


down where the sirens sing

by kastuuki



Category: Yuri!!! on Ice (Anime)
Genre: Alternate Universe - 18th century, Alternate Universe - Magical Realism, Fluff and Angst, Happy Ending, M/M, Minor Leo de la Iglesia/Ji Guang-Hong, Minor Mila Babicheva/Sara Crispino, Swordfighting, YOI Secret Santa 2018
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-12-26
Updated: 2019-01-04
Packaged: 2019-09-27 15:12:50
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 20,645
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/17164313
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/kastuuki/pseuds/kastuuki
Summary: “The legend says that there’s a group of islands near Italy where the sirens and mermaids sing. They will lure any ship that is unlucky enough to navigate close to their waters. The sailors will hear a woman singing their name, asking them to stay with her…”Yuri snorts. “That’s a load of crap. Do you really believe all of this?”





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Abarero](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Abarero/gifts).



> This is a gift for my secret santa Abarero, who's a wonderful writer and has one of my favorites fics of all time! 
> 
> Happy holidays and I hope you like it!

The bucket falls to the ground spilling water everywhere.

“I beg your pardon, sir?” Yuuri says, far too shocked to care about the mess at his feet. 

Count Nikiforov opens his mouth, struggling for words for a few moments. “I’m aware that the time is not ideal! If you’re worried about the soul tax I’ll take care of it, but I insist. I would like you to accompany me on this trip, Yuuri,” he says, smiling at him earnestly.

Yuuri doesn’t know how to process Nikiforov’s question. He bends down to pick up the bucket on the ground to buy himself some time and avoid Nikiforov’s gaze.

He’s there in front of him, wearing one of the most expensive clothes Yuuri has ever seen. A white coat richly embroidered with gold and lace, his waistcoat sporting a single row of narrow galloon on the edges, and a single button on his cuff to denote his rank. He feels thoroughly undressed in his grey coat and his white _zipun_ , even when he’s wearing what everyone else is wearing.

“Sir, I—please, don’t think that I’m being ungrateful—” he stammers out, feeling his mouth go dry, “but I don’t understand why would you want me to go with you.”

His eyes flicker to Count Nikiforov’s face for a second. He seems confused and somewhat bothered by Yuuri’s words. “Why would you say that?”

“Because I won’t be of use to anybody in a ship. Unless you need someone to take care of your stock or to teach you Japanese.”

Count Nikiforov hums and gives Yuuri an unamused smile. “And that’s all you have to offer, you say? Do you think I would be asking you this if I didn’t think you’re fit for the job?”

Yuuri’s breath stutters but tries to disguise it as a huff. The greatest captain to ever sail in the Russian Navy thinks he’s fit to be a part of his crew. Yuuri must be having one of _these_ dreams again, although in his dreams, he’s far more composed and he’s the one sweeping Victor off his feet, not stuttering his way out of his offer.

“Also, I believe we’re above lying. I know you’re familiar with the sea, Yuuri.” Nikiforov tuts, raising an eyebrow. Okay, maybe he’s not dreaming. Victor has never insulted him on his dreams.

Yuuri narrows his eyes at him, throwing politeness out of the window. “I’m not very fond of it.” He replies, flatly. “Yes, my father was a merchant but that was many years ago. There is no certainty that I’ll remember how to handle myself at the sea.”

Count Nikiforov open his mouth to argue possibly, but closes it at the last moment and looks away. “Are you rejecting the offer, then?”

 _Yes… no?_ He doesn’t know what he’s doing if he’s honest. Yuuri’s hesitance seems to catch his interest and those blue eyes return to him, seemingly pleading whether Victor intended it or not. He feels his chest flutter, so he looks away to find his bearings. They’re not there, obviously, but he can pretend they are.

He remembers the bucket in his hands and clutches it against his chest. “I’ll think about it. Now, if you’ll excuse me.” He says, making a hasty retreat towards the door.

“Fair enough.” Count Nikiforov says, his tone carefully flat. Yuuri’s almost outside when Victor’s works stop right at the entrance. “Just know that I’ll leave for St. Petersburg in three days.”

* * * * *

“Do you think it’s a trick? Maybe he wants to take me to the Tsarina?” Yuuri grips at the rope on his hand harder, already imagining the worst.

“You have been in love with this man for almost ten years and now you decide to doubt of his moral compass?” Phichit asks, giving him an unimpressed stare.

“Phichit!” Yuuri hisses to shush him, although there’s no one around. “I’m not in love, that’s… I just admire him, that’s all,” he protests, but he knows it’s a weak excuse as soon as it leaves his mouth.

Phichit laughs, sitting at the edge of the well. “Sure. You were just admiring him when I caught you drawing him from memory, were you?”

“Phichit! I thought we agreed to _never_ mention that again.” He complains, letting go of the rope holding the bucket and hearing it splash against the water inside the well. Phichit just keeps giggling and Yuuri feels his cheeks heat up from embarrassment. 

“I’m sorry but you’re not subtle! You know it’s not a lie or a trick or whatever, but you want an excuse. He wants you to join his crew on this trip for months! Imagine. _Months_ alone in the sea and away from this place. Why aren’t you saying yes?”

“What about the land? What about Yakov and Lilia?” He asks, worrying his lower lip under his teeth. He technically doesn’t have a rank at all and he could leave the land whenever he wanted, and Victor offered to pay his tax too.

Yakov counts on him to take care of his farm, and Lilia needs help in the house, though. They counted on him to contribute with the house’s finances too. These people have taken care of him since he arrived as a castaway. He doesn’t want to be ungrateful and to put them on a difficult position for an adventure.

“Yakov still makes enough money by teaching Yuri Plisetsky how to make blades. Not that we need that kid carrying knives.” Phichit pretends to shudder at the idea.

“ _Fine_ , but who will take care of them?”

“They’re not _that_ old, Yuuri. They still can take care of themselves. You can always ask Nikolai to keep an eye on them.” Phichit says, argued easily, raising his eyebrows as if expecting another excuse. “Don’t overthink it. Even if you don’t want to go because of Victor, it can be a great adventure! Don’t you miss the sea?” Phichit says, sounding a bit dreamy.

Yuuri huffs in annoyance. He has never understood how Phichit didn’t become averse to the ocean after some pirates wrecked his ship. Yuuri’s ship was wrecked by a storm. He got lost in the sea for days until a Russian ship found him near Kamchatka.

He lost his father. His family. His home.

The only reason why he’d return to the sea is to find them again.

Yuuri’s eyes widen in realization and he looks at his friend with a slow grin spreading on his face. “That’s it! Phichit, you’re a genius!”

Phichit narrows his eyes. “That was… too sudden. What—”

“I’ll tell you later!” Yuuri says, picking up the bucket and running off to Yakov’s house.

* * * * *

That night Yuuri finds Nikiforov sitting outside Yakov’s house in a stump. He doesn’t understand how he hasn’t freeze when he’s only wearing a light kaftan, more adequate for wearing indoors. Although, by looking at the rich gold embroidery decorating the garment from the collar to the bottom and the buttons made from the same material, Yuuri would use as much as possible too.

Yuuri has grown so accustomed to the simplicity of the country and his parents hadn’t been allowed to show off their riches, even if they had wanted to, so seeing something so opulent throws him off.

“Count Nikiforov?” Yuuri says, taking a careful step forward. Nikiforov startles and turns his head to look at Yuuri with wide eyes. Yuuri doesn’t fail to notice how the soft candlelight coming from the window accentuates the golden patterns and gave him an almost ethereal aura.

He doesn’t know what he did to make Nikiforov notice him, let alone want him on his ship. He always looked so composed, so elegant… so unattainable. Not that Yuuri thinks he’ll ever have a claim on him, but he never thought they could even be acquaintances. They live in the same country, but they might as well live in different continents.

"Yuuri! I didn't hear you coming," Count Nikiforov says, sitting upright.

"Sorry, I should have announced myself," Yuuri says, starting to bow out of habit before stopping himself. Count Nikiforov moves his head to the side, conveying curiosity with one gesture but doesn't comment on it.

"That's... fine. Is my godfather looking for me?" Nikiforov asks, standing up and his long blue coat falls almost to the ground. The long boots issued for the Navy’s officers making him look impossibly taller.

“No, I think he’s already sleeping,” Yuuri answers and takes a deep breath, to try to settle his nerves. Despite all of the excuses he tried to make, what he’s feeling it’s not dread but excitement. “I wanted to talk about your offer.”

Nikiforov gives him a wary look, as if trying to keep his hopes from going up. “Have you decide yet?”

“Yes,” Yuuri says, nodding once, “I’ve decided to accompany in your journey—on one condition.”

Count Nikiforov’s eyebrows shoot up in surprise. “Is that so?” Victor says, but there’s trepidation in his tone, and something else that Yuuri could say it’s hurt but that’s impossible, “well, what is it?”

Yuuri swallows. “Take me back to Japan. Back to Hasetsu.”

He can tell he surprised Nikiforov with his request. He _knows_ he’s asking for too much, but this might be his only chance.

“As you must be aware, I can’t do such thing without the Tsarina’s permission,” Nikiforov says and takes a step forward. His features are clearer now that he’s fully under the glow of the candle. The gold adorning almost every inch of his clothes is nothing compared to the way his gaze shines as he looks at Yuuri.

“Then I’m afraid I won’t be able to join you.” He says with much more bravado than what he currently feels.

The corner of Count Nikiforov’s mouth turns up slightly and he moves his head to the right, the fringe of his hair falling into his eye. “Yuuri Katsuki, are you trying to blackmail me?”

“No. That’d mean there’s something in it for you,” Yuuri says, confused. “I’m making a deal.”

Count Nikiforov huffs a humorless laugh and puts a finger over his lips. Yuuri doesn’t know what to do from there. He thought his request would be denied by now, Nikiforov could, in theory, intercede for him and ask for a trip to Japan, but that kind of favors are reserved for family and friends. What does Nikiforov gain from having Yuuri in his crew?

“After this travel,” Nikiforov says with a definitive nod, “I’ll bring you back to your home, Yuuri. On one condition,” he puts his finger up in the air and there’s a small smile on his face, “don’t call me Count Nikiforov anymore.”

The Count extends a hand towards Yuuri and he takes it, somewhat dazed by his answer. Yuuri notices that his hands are covered with black silk gloves. The material is soft under his touch, but Yuuri imagines that his hand would softer and warmer.

“We have a deal, Victor Andreyevich.”

Victor Andreyevich’s smile falters just a little, but the touch of their hands lingers.

* * * * *

St. Petersburg is another world altogether.

He had been to the city once, right after Captain 1st Andrei Nikiforov had found him in a shipwreck and brought him to an audience with Tsarina Elizaveta.

Yuuri remembers that the clothes, the mannerisms, and the city, in general, were too grand for him and everyone was speaking in a language that he didn’t understand. All he knows is that Captain Nikiforov’s wife, Katerina Nikiforova, didn’t leave his side once until they could find a person to translate.

The Tsarina ordered him to learn Russia so he could teach Japanese at the Academy of Sciences with the promise to return him home when his service for Russia was finished.

The Nikiforovs sent him away ‘to learn Russian’ with their good friends. Years later, Yuuri understood that they did it to keep him safe and because the Tsarina wasn’t going to keep her promise. He had also been baptized with another name without his consent, but he made sure that nobody called him anything other than _Yuuri_.

Victor Andreyevich beams at him once they arrive at St. Petersburg. He smiles back, getting that fluttery feeling on his stomach. “My parents will be glad to see you,” He says before opening the door of the carriage.

Yuuri stays for a moment longer, taking a deep breath.

“Wow, Yuuri you have to see this—” Phichit says, poking his head inside the carriage. He had insisted on coming and Victor seemed happy to oblige when he realizes how relentless Phichit was.

Phichit frowns when he takes a good look at Yuuri. “Are you okay?”

“Yes, I was just thinking about the last time I was here,” he says, dismissively, and steps out of the carriage.

St. Petersburg is loud. Really loud.

Also big, with big palaces and people going about their business in beautiful but unpractical clothes. 

A woman with a big red dress with a hat of the same color runs past him, almost shoving him out of the way in the process. “Vitya! I am glad to see you back so soon. Your mother told me you went to see your godfather,” the woman says, kissing Victor on both of his cheeks. “Well, how is he? How was your trip?”

Yuuri blinks a little confused.

“Princess Babicheva, I am very glad to see you too. My godfather is in good health and my trip was without a hitch.” Victor says, giving the princess a wide smile but there’s something off about it. It’s nothing like the one he gave Yuuri back at the carriage.

“Vitya!” A redhead says, jumping into Victor’s arms for a hug.

“Mila!” He replies, hugging her just as tightly and his smile looks more genuine this time.

“Don’t ever leave alone like this again! You know how boring St. Petersburg is,” Mila complains, rolling her eyes. Her mother fusses with her pink hat adorned with feathers before chastising her for her comment.

“Oh, you brought people!” Princess Mila says, looking at them with curiosity.

“Yes, Vitya. Who are these handsome gentlemen?” Princess Babicheva asks, giving them both a once over. Yuuri understands at once, why Victor insisted on dressing them in these full-skirted green coats with pleats. He’s sure the weave patterns of gold and silver thread are more expensive than his entire wardrobe and he dreads to damage them in any way, but they don’t look out of place.

Victor introduces them with a grin on his face and they reply in kind, bowing when presenting themselves.

“So, Vitya, doesn’t Mila look lovely?” Princess Babicheva asks, extending a hand towards her daughter as if presenting a trophy.

Yuuri catches Princess Mila rolling her eyes and tries not to laugh.

Princess Mila shakes her head and turns her attention to Phichit and Yuuri. “Phichit, Yuuri, I don’t know if Vitya told you, but I’m having a ball tomorrow. You should come and help me to make it less boring!”

“We have to go.” Princess Babicheva says, grasping at her daughter’s elbow with as much elegance as she could muster under her annoyance. “I hope to see you at Mila’s debutante ball tomorrow, Vitya,” the princess says, smiling with all her teeth.

“Of course, Princess,” Victor replies with a smile, but his eyes shine with mirth.

“See you at the ball!” Princess Mila says, waving her hand goodbye in their direction.

* * * * *

“Are you enjoying yourself?” Victor asks next to his ear. Yuuri startles and almost drops the glass on his hand. He turns around to see Victor looking at him with interest. His mouth dries, so he takes a sip from his cup before speaking.

“Definitely,” he says, sounding anything but happy.

“You said it like you haven’t danced with half of the attendees already,” Victor points out and takes a sip from his own cup.

Yuuri shrugs. Sure, he loves dancing but he’s not dancing with the one he wishes he could dance. He hasn’t been able to put Victor out of his mind for one moment while he danced, knowing that he was probably dancing somewhere else with Princess Mila.  

“Of course, we don’t all have a partner to dance with all night,” Yuuri says and regrets the words as soon as they leave his mouth. He hopes they sound teasing instead of jealous.

Victor cocks his head to the side and his fringe falls away from his face. “Do you mean Mila? Why would you think that?”

Yuuri shrugs again. “Princess Babicheva strongly implied it. She’s sure you’ll dance the Mazurka with her daughter.”

Victor chuckles softly, looking towards the dance floor. “We could dance together all night but it still wouldn’t mean that I feel more than brotherly affection for her.”

Yuuri blinks a few times, pushing down the feeling of hope growing in his chest. “Ah, I thought you and her—”

“She was ten when I was twenty. She’s like a little sister to me,” Victor smirks a little, “also… she’s not the type I usually fancy.” 

Yuuri spills some of his drink on his coat when he hears that. He—Victor is… is he implying… Victor snickers, giving him a silk handkerchief. Yuuri might be imagining things, but Victor is giving him a look that might as well say ‘ _but you are_ ’. That’s when the Mazurka starts.

Yuuri pats at the wet spot on his _borrowed_ coat, hoping it doesn’t leave a stain. He’s keenly aware of Victor’s shoulder next to his, and there’s no way to stop his hopes from going up. 

“Yuuri, would you want—” Victor starts, but Princess Mila interrupts them with a “ _Vitya, quick I need a partner before my mother tries to push Prince Stepan to dance with me.”_

Victor gives Yuuri a regretful look before nodding. Princess Mila takes him to the dance floor.

* * * * *

Two days later, they’re boarding a ship that the crew lovingly calls the _History Maker_. It isn’t one of the largest ones, but it was obvious by the quality of the wood that it was one of the newest ones. There, he meets the rest of Victor Andreyevich’s crew: Captain 1st Christopher Giacometti, Georgi Popovich, Premjor-mayor in the Semyonovsky Lifeguard Regiment, Seung-Gil, surgeon on board, Emil Nekola, Lieutenant, and Makkachin, Victor’s dog and the most important crew member.

They had been sailing the seas with Victor since many years ago. The rest of the sailors have been handpicked by Victor himself like Yuuri was. As it turns out, St. Petersburg’s Governor asked Victor to make this trip as a favor for him and he will pay every crewmember for their services.

Victor starts to command the ship for sailing and there’s a flurry of movement as the crew complies with his orders.

Yuuri feels anxiety course through his body, making his hands tingle. He takes a deep breath after another, willing himself to calm his nerves. The last time he boarded a ship, things didn’t go so well. His father’s ship was caught in a storm and he lost everything he had. He doesn’t know if his father or Takeshi survived, he only remembers his father calling his name as the waves separated them.

He couldn’t do anything.

“Are you okay?”

Yuuri turns around to find Victor Andreyevich looking at him with a worried expression.

He finds himself relaxing a little. “Yes, I’m okay. I was just thinking.” He says, not wanting to worry him or having him think that he’s not fit for the job.

“I understand it’s been years,” Victor says, standing next to him near the quarterdeck’s railing. Yuuri notices he’s still wearing his full uniform, even on the sea, “Phichit seems to be enjoying it.”

Yuuri snorts. His friend has been following Lieutenant Nekola with questions about how to use any kind of instrument he can get his hands on since they boarded the ship. “He’s always been more social.”

“So, _Yuu_ ri,” Victor says and it sounds like his name has two syllables, “since you’re part of my crew, I think we should get to know each other better, don’t you think?” He asks, giving him a dazzling smile. “Who’s waiting for you in Japan? Parents? Family? A lover?” 

Captain Giacometti snorts as he passes by. “You never made this much effort to know me, Victor. I’m wounded.”

Victor narrows his eyes on Christopher’s direction, who says something in French that Yuuri doesn’t understand. He leaves with a laugh and a wink in Yuuri’s direction.

“Sorry about that, you were saying?” Victor says, looking at Yuuri again and his gaze softens considerably. Yuuri’s heart skips a beat.

“Well, m-my parents and my sister,” he answers, stuttering a little as he plays with the hems of his _zipun_. Yuuri feels his cheeks warm up slightly. “Uh, Yuko… and Minako too, I hope.”

Victor arches both of his eyebrows. “You hope?” He asks, sounding mildly amused.

“I mean, I hope they remember me.” Yuuri does remember. He remembers he had fancied Yuko for so long but it was obvious she didn’t feel the same way about him. They were good friends regardless, and there’s no day he doesn’t miss her.

Minako was his dance instructor. She was a retired _Noh_ dancer that was teaching him the art.

Victor smiles, but it looks tired. “I’m sure this Minako is waiting for you. You’re not easy to forget, Yuuri Katsuki.” 

Yuuri blinks a few times and puts his hand in the air when he realizes what Victor is implying. “ _What?_ No! Minako is a family friend!”

“Then Yuko…?”

“Yuko is a friend!”

“Ah, so there’s no lover?”

“No…”

“Ex-lovers?”

Yuuri looks away. “No comment…”

“Really? Because my first lover—”

A loud crash and someone yelling obscenities interrupts them (thankfully!). That’s when Prejom-Mayor Popovich brings a very familiar blond boy with a penchant for causing trouble and swearing.

“Commodore, I found him posing as a midshipman in the lower levels and fighting with another crew member.”

Yuri Plisetsky glares at Popovich with as much hate as he can muster. “I didn’t start the fight! It was that _yobaniy urod_   Leroy!”

Yuuri arches both of his eyebrows, somewhat confused and impressed at the same time. They sailed barely two hours ago.

“Yuri Plisetsky, what do we owe the honor of your presence in this ship? A ship you didn’t have permission to board in the first place?” Victor asks with a smile that stretches too much to be friendly.

Yuri tries his best to look annoyed, but Yuuri can see that he knows he’s in real trouble. “I heard you recruited Katsuki, of all people. He’s just my teacher, what does he know about the sea. I could be a better sailor.”

“Your teacher? What is he teaching you?” Victor asks, sounding genuinely curious.

“Mathematics, you old man,” Yuri says, crossing his arms.

“This kid’s got some gall talking to you like that. Can we keep him?” Giacometti says with a big grin on his face, and Yuuri realizes that the crew has stopped their duties to watch the scene.

Victor puts his finger over his lips with a considering look.

Yuri Plisetsky is avoiding Yuuri’s gaze. It just doesn’t make sense. During their time together, Yuri had been very clear on his hate Russian nobility and, especially, for Captain Victor Nikiforov. Had that been just jealousy?

Yuuri finds Phichit among the other men and his friend shrugs, just as confused as Yuuri himself.

“Is it true, Yuuri? I thought you taught Japanese.” Victor says.

“Um, y-yes? Well, I’ve never taught Japanese but I’ve been teaching him Math for the last year.”

Victor looks at Yuri Plisetsky again and a knowing smile forms in his lips. “Very well then. Yuuri and Phichit will look after you during our time in this ship. Maybe if you’re the excellent sailor that you claim to be, you could join the lower ranks when we go back to Russia.”

Yuuri smiles when he hears the challenge in Victor’s voice and Yuri grumbles, but his behavior is more subdued.

* * * * *

“The legend says that there’s a group of islands near Italy where the sirens and mermaids sing. They will lure any ship that is unlucky enough to navigate close to their waters. The sailors will hear a woman singing their name, asking them to stay with her…”

Yuri snorts. “That’s a load of crap. Do you really believe all of this?”

People look at each other across the room, fearing that Yuri’s words have angered some spirit that will bring them bad luck. Chris stands up from the wooden box he was sitting on to narrow his eyes at Yuri.

“Aw, are you scared, Yurio?” Chris asks with a big grin, knowing that the name the crew gave him annoys him. “Maybe you should’ve thought about that before boarding this ship.”

Yuri makes a rude gesture. “Shut up! I’m not scared of your imaginary monsters. I don’t know why you’re taking us to this island but I’m sure it’s not to catch a sea witch like that hag has been preaching.”

‘That hag’ being Victor. In theory, Yuri doesn’t have any business talking about _Commodore_ Victor Nikiforov like that, but Yuuri has found that the sea life is far more lax on social etiquette. Never in his wildest dreams had he thought he’d refer Your High Well Born, Captain Christopher Giacometti, as Chris but here they are.

Chris tuts and puts an arm around Yuri. “There are more things in heaven and earth, Horatio,” he says, extending his other arm towards the horizon to emphasize his point.

Yuri disentangles himself with a growl and a kick to Chris’ shin. “What is that supposed to mean?”

Chris sits on the box where Phichit is sitting, rubbing the spot where Yuri kicked him. “It means that there’s more than what you can see, especially in the sea, kid.”

“Call me kid once more…” Yuri says, standing up. Yuuri stands up to intervene.

“Why don’t we—” he says, giving Yuri a pointed look, “ _all_ calm down. Were you saying, Chris?” He sits down next to a sulking Yuri.

“Right. Well, apparently a sea witch that lives there asked the Governor that in twenty years he had to give her the most precious thing he had. His daughter is sick. You can put two and two together,” Chris says, ending his tale in a somber note.

“And what are we supposed to do?” Jean-Jacques asks. “Destroy the island?”

There’s a few snorts, the loudest coming from the spot next to Yuuri.

“Yeah, that’s not—we don’t want a war with Italy,” Chris says, patiently. “We’re going to bring the witch to the Governor.”

“Even if I believed in your fairytales, what’s in it for us?” Yuri asks.

“The Governor will pay all of you handsomely,” Chris says, and his gaze lingers in Yuuri with a small smile. Yuuri figures that, _of course_ , Chris would know about his deal with Victor.

“He will pay us, but I bet Victor has a better deal with him than any of us. What is _he_ getting out of this, Chris?” Yuri asks, and everyone falls silent after this.

Yuuri frowns. Victor explained him all of the ins and outs of the trip, what was expected of him, and the dangers, but he realizes now that they never talked about what was he offered.

“That’s only for him to know,” Chris says, shrugging. “He’s not going to lead you astray if that’s what you’re worried about.”

“Right. He doesn’t even interact with us. What? Are we beneath him?” Yuri asks, his voice sounding far harsher than before. “How can we trust him?”

“Most of this crew has been with us for years now. They can attest that we’re not in the backstabbing business,” Chris says and stands up, not giving Yuri a chance to reply. He claps his hands in a showy manner. “Now, it’s late, gentlemen, so I must retire. Seung-Gil and Yuuri are on lookout duty.”

Everyone groans as they stand up. The sailors say their goodnights, except Yuri who only nods in Phichit and Yuuri’s direction as he leaves. For all he claims he can be a better sailor than Yuuri, he’s not too keen on being friendly with his shipmates.

Phichit climbs the stairs that connect the sleeping quarters with the deck with Yuuri.

“You know, Yurio has a point,” Phichit says when they reach the last step.

Yuuri’s eyes widen slightly. “He doesn’t have to share the deal he made with the Governor if he doesn’t want to.”

“No, not that. The thing about Victor not wanting hanging out with his crew,” Phichit shrugging with one shoulder.

“You were the one who told me he wasn’t a bad person,” Yuuri says, finding that his tone is defensive.

“I’m not saying he’s a bad person.” Phichit lifts both of his hands in surrender. “But don’t you think it’s a bit weird?”

Yuuri worries his lower lip between his teeth but doesn’t reply. “What are you trying to say?”

“Okay, I’ll just say it. If that story is true, we’re going to be in some dangerous situations. So don’t go around risking your life for someone who might not do the same.”

Yuuri opens his mouth in surprise. He didn’t know he was that obvious about his feelings for Victor. “I don’t know what you want me to say. I wasn’t planning on… risking my life for him,” Yuuri says, knowing in the back of his mind that it’s not entirely true. “Don’t worry for me. Um, I should go for lookout.”

Phichit nods with a wry smile. “Sure, see you in the morning.”

The night is long and cold outside. Lookout duty is the least exciting thing there is to do. He has to keep an eye on one part of the deck while Seung-Gil stays on the other side, so they can’t even talk with each other. He doubts Seung-Gil would even talk to him, though.

He’s humming a song when he hears some floorboards creak behind him. Yuuri jumps and turns around, stumbling a little.

“Sorry! I didn’t mean to startle you,” Victor Andreyevich says with a sheepish smile. “I couldn’t sleep and I heard you. Do you mind if I stay here for a while?”

Yuuri shakes his head and watches as Victor puts his elbows on the ship’s railing. “You should bring Makka with you for lookout. She’s usually a great companion,” he says, as a way to start a conversation but Yuri Plisetsky’s words echo in Yuuri’s head.

Victor has never shown any indication that he thinks spending time with Yuuri is beneath him. Yuuri replies without caring much about the quality of his reply, his mind somewhere else.

Over the last months, Victor has been the one seeking him out in their spare time, trying to find ways to talk to him, to get to know him better.

“Sorry, I must be boring you with my stories—” Victor says, interrupting a story about that time where Makkachin chased down a seagull, causing havoc on the main deck.

“No! That’s not it. I like hearing stories about Makka!” Yuuri corrects, quickly. Victor doesn’t seem convinced so Yuuri sighs, steeling himself to ask the question that’s been bothering him. “Victor Andreyevich, can I ask you a question?”

Victor seems taken aback, but nods anyway. “Sure, go ahead,” he says, doubtfully.

“If you don’t mind me asking, what did the Governor offer you over this favor?”

Victor’s expression doesn’t betray anything, but his eyes dull after the question. “Why has this come up now?”

“You don’t have to answer,” Yuuri says, inching a bit closer to him. “It was just something that came up with the rest of the crew.”

“Ah, so they’re worried I’m getting more out of this than them.” Victor looks away from Yuuri and his lips turn downwards. “Tell them not to worry then. It’s nothing they would want anyway.”

Yuuri swallows. “I won’t tell them anything but—maybe you should. They were asking why you don’t hang out with them.”

Victor blinks a few times, his mouth failing to form words a few times. “They were?”

“Of course, why wouldn’t they?” Yuuri asks, genuinely curious.

Victor shrugs, feigning nonchalance. “I—I didn’t want to make things awkward. I know they’re not fond of Russian nobility.”

Yuuri’s eyebrows move slightly, but he tries to reign in his surprise. “Well, even Chris goes downstairs to scare us with his tales.”

“Does it work?”

“Yurio is scared even if he says he’s not,” Yuuri replies, laughing. Victor laughs too.

There’s a small silence where they just look at each other with matching smiles. Yuuri treasures these moments with Victor the most. Moments where they don’t have to fill the silence with anything. It feels intimate, and Yuuri forgets he shouldn’t be hoping, but to be fair, he’s been hoping since the day Victor stepped into the barn and asked him to come along with him.

“What am I to you?” Victor asks in a whisper. “A father figure? A brother? A friend?” He opens his mouth to speak but closes it without saying anything. His eyes fall toward the railing instead, and Yuuri feels Victor’s hand rest next to his.

Yuuri watches their hands and listens to the soft echoes of the ocean beneath them. “You’re you,” he replies, lifting his eyes to look at Victor, “for me, you’re you. You’re Victor Andre—” he stops himself, a thrill running through his body and he smiles, “Victor.”

Victor’s eyes widen for a moment, but his face breaks out in a genuine smile right after.

“There’s something I need to tell you… about my deal with the Governor.” 

* * * * *

“You,” Yuri says, pointing a finger at him. “This has your _name_ written all over it.” He extends his hands towards Phichit, who’s trying to reenact the time he escaped the Russians by stealing a chicken. Makkachin is starring as the chicken, and Victor and Georgi as the angry Russians.

“I wasn’t there for the chicken thing,” Yuuri says, smiling innocently.

“Not that!” Yuri says, narrowing his eyes and stomping his foot, “I mention that the old man doesn’t spend time with us and now he’s here, doing a fucking lousy job as an angry Russian.”

Yuuri frowns. “Why is it lousy?”

“It needs more cursing,” Yuri replies, crossing his arms. Yuuri laughs.

“What did you _do_?” Yuri demands.

Yuuri looks towards the ‘scenario’ and he catches Victor’s eye. They both smile at the same time.

“I just asked, I guess.” He replies and when he looks back, Yuri has dropped the defensive stance and it’s looking between them with narrowed eyes.

“What—” Yuri starts, but that’s when Georgi lets out a wail. Something apparently reminded him of his ‘dearest Anya’. Everybody groans as he goes on about how she left him for a Prince and he swears he’ll find a way to ‘win back her favor’.

* * * * *

“What you even doing here?” Victor asks in a hushed voice to another person. Yuuri stops dead on his tracks, realizing far too late that he shouldn’t be there. To be fair, Victor did tell him he could go to his quarters anytime he wanted. “Your father will kill me when we return.”

“Then pretend you never realized it was me. It shouldn’t be hard for _you_ ,” the other person says in a snide tone. It sounds familiar but he cannot place a face.

There’s some shuffling on the other side. Yuuri weights the possibility to slip away without giving away his presence, but he doesn’t trust these creaky woods.

“Sorry for that. It wasn’t my place,” the other person says, sounding genuinely regretful.

“You’re not wrong. I’m good at pretending,” Victor says after a small silence. “What do we do now?”

“You have to understand that I couldn’t stay and this is the first thing I could think of to get away. My mother insists on pushing me into the arms of any man that shows the slightest interest in me without even taking my feelings into account!”

Yuuri gasps as silently as he can. Princess Mila. How—

“Mila, your parents will think you ran away with _me_. Remember they have this belief that I’m courting you,” Victor says and Mila snickers, “how are we going to explain this?”

“You don’t have to worry about that. I’m not planning on going back.”

“How do you plan to accomplish that? Are you running away to Siberia?”

Yuuri tries to move, hoping that the floor doesn’t creak under his weight.

“Of course not. I was hoping you’d accept me into your crew. Nobody has to find out,” Mila says, hopeful. Yuuri moves another inch.

“If the crew finds out, they’ll expect me to do something about it,” Victor says, somberly. Yuuri stops in his tracks. “I don’t think I’ll be able to do it, so I hope you know both of our lives are at stake here.”

“I understand. I promise I won’t put you in a difficult position,” Mila says, sounding serious. “So… now that everything’s out in the open. What’s going on between you and Yuuri?”

Yuuri puts his hands into fists, telling himself that he should be getting away instead of listening to a conversation that is clearly private. His forces his feet to move.

“That’s none of your business, is it?” Victor says and Yuuri reaches the first step.

“Oh, _no_. I’ve never seen you so taken by someone. Vitya, I’m happy you’re happy, but does he feels the same way?”

“I could never ask him that,” Victor says and his voice sounds sad. Yuuri fights the urge to go back to tell him it’s okay, that he understands.

“Why not?” Mila asks, voice somewhat muffled as Yuuri reaches the next step—

“ _Because_ in exchange for forgiving my family’s ‘rebellion against the Russian nobility’” Victor says with as much irony as he can, “the Governor’s asked me to do this, but then he gave me his explicit _approval_ to propose his daughter upon my return.”

“ _What?_ You’re not even courting her. That’s—did you accept?”  

“What was I supposed to do?”

There’s a stunned silence after Victor’s statement and that’s when Yuuri’s foot lands on the third step, making it creak.

“Whoever you are, come out of hiding this instant,” Victor says. His tone is calm, but Yuuri can hear the ice in his voice. What is the punishment for eavesdropping? “ _Now_.”

Yuuri sighs, figuring that either he tries to run up the stairs or he faces Victor and Mila

(Now that he thinks about it… _Mika_ didn’t talk a lot, did ‘he’?)

He steps down and pushes the door open.

Both of their faces slack with shock when they see him, but the bridge of Victor’s nose turns slightly pink, which it’s made more noticeable by his white coat.

“Yuuri?” He says without a hint of the previous anger. Yuuri would even dare to say he sounds doubtful.

“I didn’t mean to eavesdrop. I’m so sorry,” Yuuri explains, feeling his own cheeks heat up under Mila’s smirk. “I’ll forget what I heard, I promise. I’ll leave you two alone,” he says quickly, trying to make a hasty retreat.

“No, I was just leaving, Yuuri,” Mila says, putting a hand over his shoulder to stop him for leaving the quarters. “I know you’ll keep my little secret, right?”

Yuuri nods and Mila smiles. “See? Everything’s all right. I’ll leave you two alone,” she says, giving Victor a pointed look. Victor shakes his head, but Mila leaves with a wink in Yuuri’s direction.

When he turns to Victor, he’s avoiding his gaze. “What did you need me for?” He asks, standing up and taking off his coat to reveal his green waistcoat. The shoulder strap on his left has small silver details, the same color as Victor’s hair. Yuuri realizes that he hasn’t seen him in anything but his uniform.

Yuuri’s mind is still reeling from the conversation he overheard. “Y-you said I could visit anytime I wanted,” _and I chose the worst time_ , he thinks.

Victor stops pretending to adjust the cuffs on his waistcoat to look at Yuuri. “So you’re visiting?”

“Yes. I was—am, if you still want?” Yuuri says, although, he hopes Victor _wants_ him to stay.

Victor smile is enough for Yuuri to know that his answer is yes.

Half an hour later, Yuuri is telling him about his life in Japan and his mom’s cooking. An hour later, Victor is telling him about his life as a sailor and that he found Makkachin in France. Their chairs go from opposite sides of the table to inches apart. Yuuri doesn’t doubt anymore about his feelings for Victor or Victor’s feelings for him, but this thing growing between them has an ending written before it can even begin.

If Victor’s possible engagement doesn’t end it, Yuuri returning to Japan will.

“That night, at Mila’s debut,” Victor says, licking his lips as his eyes flicker downwards for a second. Yuuri gulps, “I wanted to ask you to dance.”

“That would’ve been a scandal,” Yuuri says, feeling bold enough to play with Victor’s cuff on the arm resting on the table. He smiles when he hears Victor’s breath hitch softly.

“Dance with me?” Victor asks, moving his hand to twine Yuuri’s hand into his.

Yuuri stands up as his answer. Victor kisses his knuckles before they start to dance.  

They waltz under the moonlight coming up from the window, following a song that only both of them can hear. He laughs when Victor makes him twirl, taking him by surprise, and Victor’s smile grows brighter when Yuuri dips him without warning.

It’s peaceful and perfect. Between these four walls, they’re just Yuuri and Victor.  

“I wish it could always be like this,” Victor whispers sometime later, and Yuuri can only hide his face in Victor’s shoulder, trying not to cry.  

* * * * *

Things get tenser as the _History Maker_ approaches the siren islands. There’s a thick fog surrounding the islands and they can’t see that far ahead. They know there are rocks though, so Victor decides that they’ll reach the islands in boats.  

The place is eerily still. There’s no seagulls or fishes. Makka’s barking like crazy, keeping herself by Victor’s side.

Victor stands on the quarterdeck and explains their plan of action once more. Leave no man behind, unless he’s truly lost to the monsters. Fight back with all you have, but don’t be afraid to escape given the opportunity. Finally, he asks for volunteers.

Yuuri steps forward but he finds that Yuri moved his arm to stop from volunteering. Whether it was intentional or a reflex, Yuri isn’t making eye contact with him.  

He realizes then why Yuri insisted on coming.

Yuuri pushes at Yuri’s arm gently and hears him sigh in defeat. “I won’t be saving your ass if you get lost,” Yuri says before huffing and stomping away from him.

Yuuri wouldn’t have gone months ago. Now, as he watches Victor board one of the boats, he knows he doesn’t have much of a choice.

“If you’re going, I’m going,” Phichit says, strapping his sword to next to his hip.

“You don’t have to,” Yuuri argues, knowing there’s not much use.

“My best friend is going into a siren-infested island? Sound like one of these things when I absolutely have to.”

They make their way towards the boats and Victor presses his lips together in a thin line when he sees him, but nods nonetheless.

He hears someone huff behind them. “Men acting this scared over a myth,” Seung-Gil says. Since when has he been standing there? “Even if they were real, the odds of finding the one witch that cursed the Governor are ridiculously bad.”

“ _No_ , you’re not going,” he hears Victor say somewhere behind him and then Mila cursing in true sailor fashion.

“Mermaids are one-hundred percent real,” Phichit argues with Seung-Gil, crossing his arms. “One of them saved me from drowning when my ship wrecked.”

Yuuri relaxes with a small sigh. It makes him feel better to know that if they exist, maybe they’re not _that_ bad.

* * * * *

Not only Seung-Gil was wrong, but also Phichit.

Yuuri’s running through the thick jungle. He lost everyone a while ago. After the mermaids attacked their boats they were still together in one piece, but the sirens began to chase them down and he was too busy trying not to get eaten by one to keep track of his party.

The worst part is that he can hear them sing, calling for him, and Yuuri is horrified to find out that he wants to follow. He had heard the tales about sirens and mermaids but he never thought they were this ruthless. He’s carrying his sword but he’s not keen on hurting anyone or anything, after all, most of them still look like humans.

Someone takes his hand and he almost screams when another hand covers his mouth and pulls him down behind a big rock.

“Shut up! God,” Yuri hisses, “you should’ve stayed teaching back in Russia.”

Yuuri rolls his eyes and pushes Yuri’s hand away. He realizes Yuri’s cold and his hands are shaking. Yuuri sighs. Despite the tough act Yuri likes to pull, he’s still a teenager whose only concern should’ve been his education. He should’ve been with his grandfather right now, instead of running away from a bunch of monsters on an unexplored island near Italy.

“Why did you come? Honestly?” Yuuri asks.

Yuri kicks some dirt, and there’s a long silence before he replies to Yuuri. “Because I didn’t want you to die, okay?” Yuri says, sulking for having to say that aloud. “I guess you’re sort of decent, and when I asked you to teach me math you didn’t even ask for anything in return.”

Oh. Yuuri always knew that Yuri showed his love in… different ways, so to speak, but he never thought he felt anything but tolerance towards Yuuri.

“Thanks, you didn’t have to do that, but thanks,” Yuuri says, smiling.

Yuri scoffs. “Of course I had to, what were you going to do in the sea?”

Yuuri smiles, finding that Yuri had been underestimating him all along. He feels just a bit bad. “If you had asked, you’d know that my father’s a merchant and I used to travel with him.”

Yuri turns around slowly, looking like he wants to scream.

“How did you think I ended up in Russia?” Yuuri asks, puzzled.

Yuri makes wild gestures, kicking more dirt. “I thought you were a fisherman that got lost!” He says in a louder voice.

There’s a scratch coming from the other side of their rock and it sounds a lot like claws. They both freeze on the spot, Yuuri grasping his sword firmly and Yurio pulling a knife out of his pocket. The siren starts to sing to lure them in and that’s when they decide to make a run for it.

Yuuri hears wings flapping behind them and a beautiful song he’s trying his hardest to ignore. They almost collide with Phichit and Chris who are running away from their own siren. The relief he feels is short-lived because they now have two sirens trying to hunt them down. The four of them take off in another direction where they find Emil, Seung-Gil, and Georgi trying to fight off three sirens.

Soon enough, they’re surrounded by sirens and he’s sure their swords won’t be of much help at this point.

He doesn’t know whether to be glad or worried that Victor isn’t there.

“Well, I can at least say that this is not the way I thought I would go,” Phichit says, standing next to Yuuri as the sirens start to prowl in their direction. Their claws clicking against the dirt and their faces intend on their every movement.

“I did,” Chris adds and shrugs when everyone turns to stare at him. “What? I’ve spent half of my life in the sea. It was bound to happen sooner or later.”

“You’re all useless! I can’t believe you’re the people we trust to win our wars,” Yuri yells from somewhere behind the group.

“I won’t be able to say goodbye to my dearest Anya!” Georgi says.

“ _Shut up!_ ” They say in unison, even Seung-Gil.

The sirens make a sound that it’s not entirely human but it’s definitely scary and they advance closer. Yuuri looks at Phichit, who nods in his direction. They both lift their swords, knowing they won’t go down without a fight, but it’s looking to be the last one of their lives.

Seconds pass. The sirens stop and look away from them, far in the distance.  

A minute passes. One of them makes a wounded noise and the others follow her. Yuuri puts his hands on his ears, feeling his eardrums hurt with the intensity of the sound. The sirens take off without a single glance in their direction.

Yuuri blinks. What had just happened? 

His feet move before he’s even conscious of it, but he’s running towards what he hopes is the direction of the ship.

When they finally find the beach, Yuuri regains his senses and stops in his tracks. “We have to go back!” He says, backtracking into the wild again and Yurio pulls him by the arm.

“Are you _fucking_ crazy? We almost didn’t make it!”

“Victor is not here! He-he must be still there, I don’t—I can’t leave him!” Yuuri says, trying to get away from Yurio’s grip.

“ _Yuuri!_ ” Someone calls as some of the plants move. They all lift their weapons to fight whatever is coming. The plants part and they find it’s just Mila and Victor along with two people he’s sure are not part of their crew.

“Victor!” Yuuri says, running the rest of the way to hug him.

“I’m glad to see you too, Yuuri!” Mila says smirking, and he hears some snickers behind him. His face is burning when he separates, but he can’t bring himself to be embarrassed when he sees the heart-shaped smile that it put on Victor’s face.

He gets a better look at the other two people. The woman with black hair and purple eyes is staring at them as if they were the most interesting thing she’s ever seen. The man with brown hair and purple eyes is looking at them as if he wants to punch them.

“Who are they?” Yuri asks, without putting away his knife completely.  

“I’m Sara!” The woman replies, moving to stand far too close to Yuuri. “I’m the witch you were looking for,” she says, smiling. “And this is Mikey, my brother.”

“Sara!” The man screams as if he were in pain and narrows his eyes in their direction. “Call me Mikey and I’ll drown you in the ocean! I’m _Michele_.”

Yuuri looks at Victor, hoping that things will start to make sense sometime soon. “You found the witch?”

“More like… Mila saved me from being eaten by a siren,” he says, smiling sheepishly and putting a hand in the back of his neck.

“You wouldn’t have been eaten. She would’ve taken you to her nest where you’d have to stay for the rest of your days!” Sara says with a big smile.

“Yes, that’s obviously better,” Yuri replies.

“ _No, you can’t go, Mila. It’s not safe_ ,” Mila says to Victor in a mocking voice. “You owe me an apology.”

Victor opens his mouth to retort when a siren caws in the distance.

“But it can wait,” Mila says and they all run to the boats. 

* * * * *

According to Mila and Victor’s account, the sea witches had surrendered without a fight. Sara had appeared out of thin air, yelling at them for treating her friends like that. “They were just trying to protect me from you!” Sara offers as an explanation, but as soon as they told them why they were there for, she offered to accompany them back to Russia.

“Then why the handcuffs?”

Victor shrugs. “She said she wanted her brother to think she was going against her will.”

 _Right_ , her brother who is currently foaming at the mouth because Emil tried to start a conversation with Sara. What he doesn’t notice though, is that Mila has barely left Sara’s side since they left the island days ago.

Yuuri smiles, knowingly.

“Michele said he was coming because he wasn’t going to leave his sister with a bunch of savage sailors”

He hears Yurio scream in fury and that’s how he knows that Leroy said something again to set him off. Chris curses somewhere because Seung-Gil is treating the injury that he got, not because they just faced deadly sirens a few days ago, no, but because he took a little too much wine from his private collection in celebration for not dying and fell on his head downstairs.  

“I don’t know what he’s talking about,” Yuuri says, “we’re pretty civilized.”

* * * * *

“So, Yuuri? What is Russia like?” Sara asks one day when Yuuri is in charge to ‘keep an eye on her’. As if. He thinks Sara is far more powerful than she lets on and she could probably escape—and sink the _History Maker_ —with just a flick of her wrist if she wanted to.

“Um,” he takes a small step backward because Sara doesn’t have a personal space apparently, “it’s big, I guess. Cold. You’re going to St. Petersburg, which it’s different from the rest of the country.”

Sara hums, putting her hand under her chin. “Well, I guess after this Governor pays his debt maybe you can show me where you live! I can meet the people you know, right? Are they nice?”

Yuuri frowns. “Excuse me, what?”

“You’re right, of course, they’re nice! That’s so rude of me. I’m just excited to meet new people after having to stay on that island for so long!” She says, earnestly. Yuuri feels sympathy for her, he understands wanting to leave a place and not being able to.  

“No, I was just—I don’t think the Governor wants to pay his debt,” Yuuri replies, carefully.

Sara cocks her head, her long black hair falling to the side. “He doesn’t have a choice,” she says with a wicked grin.

Yuuri feels a chill run down his spine. “It’s his daughter. I don’t think he wants her to die—”

Sara’s eyes widen and the boat shakes a little with the force of the waves. The sun is setting on the horizon, bathing the deck in soft orange light.

“We don’t do that,” she says with annoyance in her voice, “if I were to take her daughter away from him, she’d have to want to leave first and I wouldn’t cause her death. How did you even get that idea?”

Yuuri swallows, feeling guilty for even accusing her of something like that. “Sorry, that’s what he told us. His daughter was very sick when we left. He thinks it has something to do with the deal he made with you.”

Sara crosses her arms in front of her chest. “I have nothing to do with that. He agreed to give me the thing he values the most when our contract ends, but his daughter’s life is not his to give away.”

The sky turns pink and there’s a chill in the air.

“What was the deal?” Yuuri asks.

Sara presses her lips and looks away, towards the horizon. Long gone are the earnest expression and curious eyes, and a shadow crosses her face when she remembers. “He was a captain whose ship was caught in a storm and wrecked against the rocks near the island. I offered him to save his crew but he told me he wanted to become the most powerful man in Russia,” she sighs, “I still saved as many as I could but...”

 _I could’ve saved them all_ , hangs in the air. Yuuri swallows, there’s a sinking feeling on his stomach.

“Sara! Is Katsuki bothering you? Get away from my sister you dirty pirate!” Mikey says, startling them both. Sara groans and rolls her eyes.

“Mikey, I told you they’re not pirates!” Sara yells, getting off the quarterdeck to go argue with her brother.

Yuuri stays where he is, trying to make sense of this new information.

“Oh, Yuuri?” Sara says, looking back at him. “Even if I were in the business of taking souls against their will. Men like him don’t value people more than they value power.”

While Michele narrows his eyes in Yuuri’s direction, Sara gets distracted when Mila arrives at the deck. Sara throws herself into Mila’s arms and Michele keeps throwing dirty looks in Yuuri’s direction.

Yuuri shakes his head with a small smile and rolls his eyes.

He leaves the main deck to go into Victor’s quarters. Victor’s hunched over his captain’s log, frowning in concentration. Yuuri almost feels bad for interrupting him, but Victor’s face breaks out into a soft smile when he sees him and he finds he can’t regret it.

“Sorry, I was just finishing with my log,” Victor says, and his pen spills some ink into the pages.

That’s when Makka puts her paws into his stomach to say hi, nearly toppling him to the ground. Yuuri laughs, petting her with soft cooing noises.

“Don’t apologize. I’ll just wait,” Yuuri says, giving Makka a final scratch behind her ears. He enters the room, leaving his grey coat on the hanger, next to Victor’s white one.

He takes a book from Victor’s bookcase and opens it up where he left off last night. His mind cannot concentrate though, still dissecting the conversation he just had with Sara. He looks at Victor over his book instead, taking in the lines of his profile, the way his eyes narrow when he stumbles over a description. He’s been wearing a double-breasted jacket without a collar, which has leather buttons and leather loops instead of the gold details of his navy issue coat.

He looks gorgeous in both of them, but the one he’s wearing looks more like what Yuuri wears on a regular basis.

“If you keep looking at me like that I won’t be finishing anytime soon,” Victor says without taking his eyes off the page, but a small smile appears on his face.

“Sorry,” Yuuri says, laughing a bit embarrassed. “But don’t pretend you don’t like the attention.”

Victor puts his pen down, standing up with a wicked glint in his eyes. “That’s because it’s coming from you,” he says, walking towards him with intent.

His heart starts beating faster when Victor bypasses the chair and goes to stand in front of Yuuri. Well, that is new. Victor puts his fingers under Yuuri’s chin and tilts it up.

“ _Yuu_ ri, something is bothering you,” Victor whispers his name with so much affection and Yuuri’s breath gets stuck on his throat. Victor joins their foreheads together.

“Um,” Yuuri’s trying to find the words, but he has forgotten how to even breathe, let alone to form things like words or thoughts. He closes his eyes and sighs deeply, willing his heart to stop trying to escape his chest. “I was talking to Sara—” he begins, “she said something about the Governor.”

Victor separates a little, to see him in the eye.

“What about him?” He asks, frowning slightly.

Yuuri bites his lower lip. “I think he lied to you.”

Victor doesn’t say anything for a few moments. He doesn’t look surprised or offended on behalf of the Governor. His face doesn’t show much of anything really. Yuuri tries to give Victor’s time to process, but he doesn’t do well with awkward silences, especially when it comes to Victor. He launches into an explanation, telling him about the conversation with Sara, about the contract, and about the shipwreck.

Victor lets out a long-weary sigh and sits next to Yuuri in the bed.

“You don’t look surprised,” Yuuri points out.

“Well, it’s not a secret that the governor defrauds the government on a regular basis and the Tsarina just pretends it’s not happening under her own nose,” Victor says and turns his head to look at Yuuri. There’s a shadow in his eyes and his shoulders slump.

“I thought you trusted him.”

“I _used_ to trust him,” Victor looks up, gaze sharp, “but the only reason why I agreed to this is because I want to protect my family.”

Yuuri keeps his gaze on Victor’s. “What about the rest of us?” Yuuri asks, trying not to sound accusatory but he fails. “If you knew that he’s corrupt, why did you let us risk our lives? What if he doesn’t keep his part of the deal?”

Victor swallows, shaking his head. “He’ll pay them. As long as we bring her in, he has enough money to do it, even if it’s just to keep them quiet.”

Yuuri shakes his head, avoiding Victor’s gaze. “What about me?”

“What about you?” Victor asks, sounding genuinely confused and it angers Yuuri.

“What about my deal? Will he really let you make a trip to Japan?”

“I wasn’t going to let him stop me.”

Yuuri snaps his gaze back to Victor, finding determination in his eyes. “You—that’s _illegal_.”

“I told you I was going to help you to go back to Japan. I’ll do that with or without his authorization,” Victor says, as if there’s no room for discussion. As if taking Yuuri back to Japan is a priority for him.

Yuuri’s left speechless. He wants to say he doesn’t understand why Victor would risk his position, his _life_ for him, but he does understand.

He thinks of seeing his family again, eating his mother’s food again, training with Minako, laughing with his sister, traveling with his father… those are the things he holds dearest to his heart and he’d do anything to have them back. _Yet_ , he finds himself grasping for Victor’s hands and realizes there is _one_ thing he wouldn’t risk.

 “ _No_ ,” he says, matching Victor’s determination, “what you want to do means the world to me, but I can’t let you.”

Victor’s mouth opens but no words come out of it. Instead, the grasp on his hand tightens and his eyes bore into Yuuri’s. 

“I just want you to be happy.”

Yuuri inches forward, leaving little space between them. “I won’t be happy if you risk your life.”

Victor’s eyelashes flutter, and Yuuri closes his eyes, leaning in to close the remaining space between them…

The ship’s bell sounds and Yuri screams those three words he had hoped he’d never hear: “Pirates on sight!”

* * * * *

“I told you learning how to fence would be useful!” Phichit says to Yuuri as he kicks a pirate against the mast. Yuuri on his part is trying not to get stabbed with a sword. He wouldn’t consider his swordsmanship the best, but it’s better than not being able to defend himself.

The pirate lunges forward and Yuuri can tell by the grip on his sword that he hasn’t been doing this long. There’s a cacophony of swords colliding against one another, and he isn’t going to lie and say he’s not nervous every time his opponent gets too close to touch skin. The pirate moves forward and it’s almost unfair how Yuuri’s able to tell his opponent next advance.

The swords collide again and Yuuri disarms him. He picks up the discarded sword in one fluid movement and the pirate stares at Yuuri with fear in his eyes.

From the corner of his eyes, he sees Yuri climbing up the mast while a pirate tries to pull him down by the leg. He runs and pins the pirate’s sleeve to the wood with the spare sword, making it possible for Yuri to escape.

The pirate tries to free himself, but he’s panicking and making things more complicated. Yuuri watches him, somewhat confused, as his eyes keep flickering from Yuuri to his sword.

_Oh._

Yuuri lifts up his hands to show he doesn’t have any ill intentions. The pirate stops struggling and watches him with surprise written all over his face.

He sees past Yuuri’s shoulders and his eyes widen. “ _Dĕng_ Guang-Hong!” He yells.

Yuuri turns around to find a young boy, probably around Yuri’s age, holding a sword in his direction. They both look at each other in surprise.

There seems to be some sort of understanding because Guang-Hong nods and withdraws his sword. Yuuri does the same and that’s when someone knocks him out cold from behind.

* * * * *

When he regains consciousness, all of his friends have their hands tied behind their backs and a man with a long beard is telling them he’ll start roughing people up if they don’t give up their captain. He feels the rope behind his back and swallows. The knot is tight and there’s no way Yuuri will be able to untie in time.

“Fine, if that’s how you want it to be,” the pirate says with an air of dismissiveness. Someone grabs his arm to make him stand up and shoves him in the direction of the pirates’ captain.

“No! I am the captain!” Victor shouts, trying to stand up.

“No! I am the captain!” Chris argues, and Yuuri would feel touched if one of the pirates weren’t trying to cut the circulation off his arm.

“ _Chris!_ ” Victor hisses in Chris’ direction but turns to the pirate with determination in his face. “He’s the captain but I’m the commodore. You want _me_.”

“No, I’m the one you want—”

“That’s enough. Take the one with the grey hair, he’s obviously the older one,” the pirate says, making a motion with his fingers towards Victor. Yuri would have given Victor hell for that one.

Where is he? Yuuri cannot find him among the crew.

“As the pirate law says, the captain who loses gets to govern his own island,” the pirate says with a cruel laugh. Yuuri wants to kick him in the face.

He watches as they pull Victor up with as much finesse as they offered Yuuri, which means none at all. Victor finds his eyes while they’re dragging him towards the boats. Yuuri tries to get the pirate’s grip off, but he only gets shoved into the ground for his trouble.

He hears Makka barking from wherever they trapped her in.  

He’s helpless. He can’t save himself. He cannot save Victor.

Victor doesn’t look away as they put him in the boat. Yuuri feels tears running down his cheeks as they lower him into the sea. Victor mouths _I’m sorry_ before he disappears from view.   

* * * * *

The crew gets untied sometime later. Well, the ones who join the pirates are untied, the rest are dragged into the ship’s cell at the bottom of the ship.

Yuuri watches in horror how they untie Phichit and Chris’ hands.

“What are you doing?” Yuuri asks, pushing down the ugly feeling in his stomach. There has to be a logical explanation, but Yuuri’s too emotionally exhausted to think why his friends, _Victor’s_ friends, would be joining the people responsible for leaving him all alone in an island, knowing there’s only one outcome possible.

“Yuuri, we have to,” Phichit says with sad eyes.

Yuuri shakes his head and refuses to look at his friend. The pirates take him downstairs with the crew who didn’t want to join, which it’s just him, Emil, Sara, Michele, and Seung-Gil.

He hasn’t seen Yurio at all, which worries him and gives him hope in equal measurements.

There’s no one watching over them, and it’d be a great chance to escape if the bars weren’t as thick and made of metal. He pushes against them with his hands, trying to find anything rusty but the ship is one of the newest ones.

“Yuuri, you’re going to hurt yourself,” Sara says with worry clear on her voice.

“I have to try!” He replies, pushing at the bars. He knows there’s no use, but he does it anyway. “He’s all alone in the island! I have to do something!”

“You’re trapped here with us. You can’t do anything.” Michele says, annoyed. “See why I told you this was a bad idea, Sara?” He says, turning to his sister.

“Shut up, Mickey,” She replies, annoyed.

Yuuri interrupts them before they start to quarrel _again_. “Why didn’t you do anything?” He asks, crossing his arms.

“If I did something, you all were going down with the ship too,” Sara replies.

“You can’t do anything then?”

Sara’s eyes widen. “Do you have anything with gold? Anything at all?” She asks, her voice urgent and with a hopeful smile.

Yuuri feels hope blooming in his chest. “Why do you need it?” He starts to search into his pockets for something that might have gold in it. He finds a few coins that he won playing poker against Chris.

“Okay, now ask for something. You only get one chance.” Sara explains, taking the coins.

Yuuri opens his mouth to ask for the one thing he wants the most…

That’s when he hears footsteps coming down the stairs. He gulps, expecting to find a guard coming their way. He finds Phichit instead.

“Yuuri?” Phichit asks.

“Phichit!” He says, putting his hands around the bars. Phichit does the same. Yuuri might still be mad at his friend, but he’s glad to see him unharmed.

“I’m so sorry about what happened! It’s not what you think! Chris and I have a plan, but first, let me get you all out of here.”

Phichit pulls out the cell’s keys from his coat and soon enough they’re out of the cell.

Yuuri runs upstairs, right towards the boats.

“Uh, what are you doing?” Phichit asks, watching doubtfully as he boards the boat and unties the rope around it.

“I’m going to find Victor.”

“And how do you plan to do that? There are sharks or you can die from starving before you even get to him!” Phichit says, alarmed.

“She will help me,” Yuuri says, turning to Sara. “Help me find Victor,” he asks, and she smiles, her eyes flashing bright purple for a moment.

“Consider it done!” She replies, grinning.

“Did you just make a deal with a witch? Yuuri!” Phichit says with disapproval. Sara and Michele glare at him. “Look, you’re nice and all, but I know what you did with the Governor.”

Sara and Yuuri share a look. “Phich, there’s something you need to know but I can’t explain right now. Sara will tell you, okay?”

Phichit looks confused (and a bit distrustful) but nods nonetheless. He starts lowering his boat, getting ready to face the sea alone.

“Yuuri, I’ll find you, okay?” Phichit says with determination in his eyes.

Yuuri smiles and hugs him. “I know you will,”

He doesn’t know what the plan is, but he knows it’ll work.

* * * * *

Finding the island is still difficult, but the wind and the sea itself seem to be on his side, moving the boat in the right direction.

Soon enough, he sees an island on the horizon just as the dawn is breaking.

There’s a dim light, like a bonfire in the sand. As he gets closer, he sees a tall silhouette stand where the waves break and the water turns into backwash.   

“Yuuri?” Victor asks, as the sun behind him bathes everything with bright orange.

“Victor!” Yuuri jumps outside the boat, running towards Victor even when the water makes it hard.

When Yuuri reaches him, a nod is the only warning before Victor throws himself into Yuuri’s arms, knocking them both into the sand and the water.

He kisses him.

Victor _kisses_ him.

It only lasts a second, but it feels like he’s been waiting for this a lifetime.

They fall into the sand and Victor smiles at him softly.

“It’s the only thing I could think of to surprise you more than you’ve surprised me.”

Yuuri matches Victor’s smile. “Really?”

The waves crash softly against the sand, and the twigs burning in the bonfire make this the most peaceful moment he’s ever experienced. Which it’s weird because his life has never been in more danger.  

The hand cradling the back of his head is steady and Victor’s eyes full of emotion. Yuuri pulls him in for a proper kiss.

They’ll find a way out of this mess _together_.

At least, that’s what he hopes.

 

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> So I got a little carried away... 
> 
> *in The Killers voice* How did it end up like this? 
> 
> I'm planning on posting the last chapter before New Year's. 
> 
> useful tidbits  
> 1\. kaftan - is a robe or tunic.  
> 2\. zipun - men’s short jacket outlining the figure and with narrow sleeves.  
> 3\. soul tax - a tax collected for each "soul" (i.e., a male peasant of working age)  
> 4\. dĕng - wait


	2. Chapter 2

**Summary for the Chapter:**

> Victor and Yuuri try to escape the island and figure out their relationship along the way.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Did I say before New Year's? I meant after New Year's lol
> 
> No, things did get a little hectic but here's the last chapter.

  


A seagull passes by the island. It makes him think of St. Petersburg.   


Victor figures that if they follow the birds, they should find a shore near. They just need to find more drinkable water and food. They’re somewhere near France, so they can take the boat and, with some luck, they’ll make it out alive.

_Do you know anyone who has survived marooning?_ A tiny voice in the back of his mind whispers.

Yuuri moves between his arms. He had fallen slept, exhausted after the long boat trip and, apparently, after being locked into a cell. He also had refused to let him go, thus falling sleep wrapped around Victor.

He’s not complaining, though.

It just makes him wonder what it would be like to spend his days like this, to wake up like _this_ every day.

He thinks of the promise he made to court and marry the Governor’s daughter when she’s in better health. He really thought he didn’t have any other choice.

Maybe he doesn’t, but he’s not sure he can give up Yuuri.

He cannot imagine a life where he doesn’t get to spend it with Yuuri.

What to do, then?

Yuuri stirs again, but this time, he wakes up. He sits upright, apologizing for falling sleep almost on top of Victor. As if he minds.

“How long has it been?” Yuuri asks, looking up at the sky.

“Since you arrived? Five or six hours I would guess,” Victor replies, assuming it’s around midday.

“We need to find supplies,” Yuuri says, but lies down on the makeshift ‘bed’ that Victor made with palm leaves.

Victor rolls over and props up on one elbow with his head resting on his palm. “How much do you think we’ll need to make it France?” He asks, playing distractedly with the hole in Yuuri’s shirt.

Yuuri seems both distracted and annoyed by the action.

“France? We can’t go to France,” Yuuri says, swallowing so heavily that Victor can see his throat bob from his position.

“I don’t see what other option we have here…”

“Phichit said he’d find us,” Yuuri declares with so much determination that Victor wants to believe him, but he has a lifetime of experience that tells him that he shouldn’t wait to be rescued. There’s a high chance that help will never come.

Some of that doubt must have shown on his face because Yuuri frowns.

“He has a plan, okay? They have Sara and Michele, and Chris, and Mila. Also, I’m sure Yurio escaped and he’s planning something of his own,” Yuuri explains, sitting upright.

“We can’t wait for someone to come rescue us,” Victor argues, sitting upright as well to see Yuuri in the eye.

“Well, we cannot risk going into the sea either. We can die of dehydration or starving before we reach France. We don’t even know if we’re near France!” Yuuri crosses his arms in front of his chest.

Victor shakes his head. It’s not that he doesn’t understand Yuuri’s point, but… “We have a better chance than waiting for our friends to come to rescue us. What if they aren’t able to get our ship back?” 

“They have a witch on their side.”

“A witch we were going to deliver to a highly corrupt man. I don’t think it’s on her best interest to help us!”

“She helped me to find you!” Yuuri exclaims, exasperated. Victor closes his mouth, his next argument forgotten.

“You made a deal with a witch?” Victor asks, feeling horrified and a little flattered that Yuuri would do something like that for him.

“She’s not that bad,” Yuuri replies, shrugging with one shoulder. “She’s not bad at all.”

Victor nods, having figure out that much. He has had doubts about delivering Sara to the Governor and the conversation with Yuuri last night only cemented the idea that he had been lying to him.

“I needed to find you. I couldn’t—” Yuuri looks at him with sadness in his eyes. He lifts his hands to push Victor’s fringe back, and Victor leans into his touch. “I needed to make sure you were okay. I saw them taking you here but… how could I know that you _weren’t_ —” Yuuri’s voice catches on the last word and he takes a deep breath. Victor can see that his eyes have become a bit glassy, though.

Victor takes Yuuri’s hand and kisses his knuckles. “I’m here,” he whispers, fighting the knot in his throat, “and we’ll find a way out. Somehow.”

He promises because what else can he do? He’d promise Yuuri the impossible, and more important, he’ll try his best to make the impossible a reality for him.

* * * * *

They compromise in the end.

They’ll wait for a week. If there’s no sign of their ship in one week, they’ll try to get to France. In the meantime, they decided to explore the island to find supplies.

“What do you think about moving to Siberia?” Victor asks, mostly because the silence is starting to unnerve him and he feels like something is going to jump out of nowhere to eat them. 

“I think it’s too cold. Why do you want to move there?” Yuuri asks, inspecting a patch of dirt.

“Just thinking. We won’t be able to live in St. Petersburg. What about Yakov? Do you think he’ll mind?” Victor asks, sitting on a fallen log.

Yuuri turns around, blinking owlishly at him. His hair is pushed back and Victor’s sure Yuuri will be the death of him, not the lack of supplies.

“What do you mean by ‘we’?” Yuuri asks.

“Um, I’m sure I’m not reading this wrong? I don’t really know how to go about this. I’m not saying that we have to live together immediately, but I don’t see how it’ll work with me living in St. Petersburg,” Victor babbles, trying to keep his cool. Was he being too forward?

“No, I mean—” Yuuri worries his lower lip between his lips, looking down at the dirt, “I still want to go back to Japan.”

Victor forgets how to breathe for a few seconds. “Of course,” he says, closing his eyes. How could he have forgotten? The problem is… even though, he wants to help Yuuri to do whatever makes him happy, he’s worried about him.

“I know what I said yesterday, and I stand by it, Victor,” Yuuri says, sitting on the log next to him. Their shoulders bump a little. “You don’t have to help me, but I’ll find a way to return.”

Victor nods. “I just—I know what happens with returning castaways in Japan. It’s an offense punishable by death. Even if you can return, what if they find you?”

Yuuri looks down, his brown-eyes shadowed with sadness. “Wouldn’t you do anything to see your family once again?”

Victor swallows around the lump on his throat. “I suppose you’re right.”

He feels Yuuri’s hand intertwined with his, and soon enough, Yuuri’s head is in his shoulder. It’s bittersweet to know that he’s found love, to be so sure of that this is _it_ for him, and not knowing whether they’ll be in each other’s lives. There’s also Victor’s probable engagement, but he’s not too keen on going forward with that.

Victor looks up, wishing he had an answer to their problems. “Uh, Yuuri, I found coconuts,” he says, smiling a little. Yuuri moves from his shoulder. From the corner of his eye, he can see Yuuri smiling too.

* * * * *

After three days, Victor starts making a sandcastle. After four days, they decide that their castle needs more towers. At night, they hold each other close, knowing that it might be the last few days of peace they might get. After five days, they begin to load the boat with as many supplies as they can without making it too heavy to float.

“This sea trip turned out worse than I thought it would,” Victor says, putting the final coconut inside the boat.  “I know this is not quite what you imagined when you say you wished you could travel the sea with me.”

“I never said that,” Yuuri says, frowning.

“I know it was just—wishful thinking, but I have to admit that I imagined it too, you know, after that night,” Victor says with a small smile. He spent a better part of the year imagining that maybe if he showed Yuuri how wonderful life at the sea could be, maybe he’d want to join the Navy.

They could sail the seas together, arm by arm. Of course, he had the image of this risk-taking man who was always confident and had an ever-present smirk on his face. A man who would take him on adventure after adventure, surprise after surprise. Yuuri might be all those things sometimes, but he’s also so much more than what he could ever imagine.

He should’ve known though that he would always keep surprising him.

“What night?” Yuuri asks, looking at Victor with worry in his face.

“A year ago, in the village? I arrived just when a couple was about to celebrate their marriage,” Victor says and Yuuri’s face turns to horrified.

“Victor, before you asked me six months ago to come with you on _this_ trip, I had never spoken to you,” Yuuri says and puts a hand over his eyes. That’s when Victor realizes.

“You don’t remember.” Victor puts his palm on his face. He should’ve known. Any time he referenced to that night, Yuuri didn’t react at all.

Yuuri sits on the sand, inhaling deeply. He hears him exhale a few seconds later.

“What happened that night?” 

* * * * *

Victor goes outside to get some fresh air, while he likes the balls in his godfather village far more than the ones in St. Petersburg, everyone there either treats him as an outsider or as an opportunity for marriage.

_Victor! You should be the judge!_

He smiles at the memory of Yuuri Katsuki stumbling in his field of vision and dragging him to the dance floor where he intended to have a ‘dance duel’ with Yuri Plisetsky.

“Oi! Why the old man gets any say in this?” Yuri had complained, but Yuuri had already started to dance to the music and Yuri hadn’t wanted to be outshined.

Yuuri Katsuki had smiled at him through the entire dance and Victor hadn’t had a chance. Little Yuri had screamed and cursed when Victor chose the winner, but it was mostly for show, they both knew Yuuri had won.

As he walks back to his godfather house, Victor thinks he might have won something else too.

_If I win this dance, will you take me to the sea with you?_

He dared Victor too, asking him if he could keep up with him. Victor couldn’t. He didn’t have it in him to keep up with Russia’s folk dances. He fell into the floor, breathing as if he’d been running for hours. That’s when Yuuri stood in his field of vision again, but upside down this time and offered him his hand.

Victor took it and he pulled him up.

“I won,” Yuuri had said with a wide grin. They shook hands as people clapped and tried to initiate their own duels. Victor let his hand linger before excusing himself to get some air.

He had been wandering for an hour, trying to get some ‘air’. In reality, he had gotten away from the celebration before he could think too hard about how he wished Yuuri Katsuki had waltzed with him, maybe even dance the mazurka with him.

As he passes by his uncle’s barn, there’s a clank coming from inside. He stops in his tracks and peeks inside, trying to find the source of the noise. Yakov always complains that one of his chickens liked to escape at night.

It isn’t a chicken, though. What he finds is Yuuri Katsuki is holding a sword and pretending to have a fight with an imaginary adversary. There’s a candleholder propped up in a wooden box to illuminate the place and Victor pushes the door open, as quietly as he can, to get a better view of Yuuri.  

His footwork is as graceful as his dancing and when he ‘attacks’ is with a clean thrust forward or downward. Victor’s sure he’ll have a hard time keeping up with him if they were involved in a duel.     

Victor’s feet move without his conscious input and he collides against a bucket near the door.

“Who’s there?” Yuuri asks, holding the sword in Victor’s direction.

“I’m Victor Andreyevich,” he announces, holding his hands up in surrender. Yuuri puts down the sword and blushes even more, squeaking a “Victor!” in his direction. Victor doesn’t know what to do with himself, he thought Yuuri couldn’t be more attractive but apparently, he knows how to use a sword and blushes when caught red-handed.  

“Are you sure that’s safe?” Victor asks, giving the sword a pointed look. “You didn’t seem entirely sober back at the party.”

Yuuri stumbles over his words a few times and even tries to hide his sword behind his back. “I was just—um, practicing? How long have you…” Yuuri trails off but keeps looking at Victor with shocked eyes.    

“Just a while. How did you learn how to fight?” Victor asks, curious.

“Phichit taught me. He said I would need it someday,” Yuuri says, spinning the sword in his hand as if it were an afterthought. Victor feels weak at the knees by just watching that. Now he’s sure he wouldn’t be able to win a fight against him just because he’d die of thirst first. “I know how too, I know you know.”

Victor grins, not quite following Yuuri’s line of thinking but enjoying the way he speaks with so much confidence. “What do I know exactly?”

“Fighting with a sword. You have one,” Yuuri points at the sword on Victor’s hip, hidden by his long kaftan _._ He smiles, realizing that Yuuri does pay attention to him. Yuuri stumbles on his feet but recovers with far more grace than any other drunk person he’s ever seen.

Victor arches his eyebrows and carefully closes the distance between them. “Okay, let’s just—put that down,” He says, taking the sword away from Yuuri and placing it in the nearest haystack.

“What do you say if we go to your house?” Victor says, putting a hand over Yuuri’s shoulder to steer him in the right direction.

Yuuri follows him. “Will you stay with me?” He asks.

“I’m staying there too, Yuuri,” Victor says, smiling. Yuuri stumbles a little, so Victor puts his arm around his arm to help him to keep himself upright. Nobody is watching them and, even if they were, he’s just helping an acquaintance, right?

“No, you stay in the anteroom of Yakov’s house.”

“You’re not living there anymore?” Victor asks, confused. He was sure that Yuuri lived in Yakov’s house, but for some reason, he never seemed to be around when Victor was visiting.

“No? I moved in with Phichit three years ago,” Yuuri says, leaning more into Victor.

Victor presses his lips, fighting the disappointment he was feeling. “Then I’m sure Phichit wouldn’t like me staying there.”

“You can stay in my room. He wouldn’t mind. He’s always telling me to talk to you,” Yuuri says as they stumbled into Yakov’s house. He isn’t sure where Phichit’s house is, but he’s sure his godfather wouldn’t mind too much if Yuuri sleeps there.

“Victoooor,” Yuuri says. Victor turns his face to find Yuuri’s bright eyes staring back at him. The moonlight makes him look like something out of Victor’s dreams. “Was it true what you promised?”

_If I win this dance, will you take me to the sea with you?_

“Of course,” he says, because what else can he do when Yuuri Katsuki’s looking at him like that. “Of course, I will.”   

* * * * *

“That—explains a lot, if I’m honest,” Yuuri says, drawing circles in the sand with his finger.

“Well, that explains why you were acting as if you didn’t know me,” Victor says, shaking his head at himself. He had just thought Yuuri had been embarrassed by what happened between them.

“So you fell in love with drunk Yuuri, that’s—not really me. I’m not as bold or confident,” Yuuri says as if apologizing for it. Victor shakes his head.

“I fancied your drunk self, but I love _you_ , Yuuri,” Victor smiles, writing Yuuri’s name in the sand. “I love you,” he repeats, just because he can. Just because Yuuri needs to know that no matter what happens, Victor loves him, and nobody can take that away.

Yuuri looks at him with shocked eyes. “I love you too,” he says right before throwing himself into Victor’s arms and kissing him within an inch of his life. Victor wraps his arms around Yuuri, committing to memory the feeling of his body and reveling on how perfect they fit together.

On the seventh day, a ship appears on the horizon.

* * * * *

Phichit gives Yuuri a bone-crushing hug as soon as they board the ship.

“I knew you’d come but I can’t believe you organized a mutiny to get us back,” Yuuri says, hugging his friend back. Victor searches for the rest of his crew and realizes that everyone is there, unharmed. He sighs in relief.

Chris and Mila hug him when they see him. Georgi nods in his direction but wiping away tears. The biggest greeting is Makka though, throwing herself at him and licking his face once he falls into the ground. She tries to do the same with Yuuri, but he’s more prepared and doesn’t fall. He does pet Makka, though, and she pants happily. Victor is not complaining, he missed her so much.

“It wasn’t so hard. Most of this crew was sick of this Bellstrop’s shit. Apparently, he was too rude and never divided the spoils equally,” Phichi explains with Makka’s happy barks in the background. “Plus, Guang-Hong helped me! You should’ve seen him. The few opposing the mutiny gave up in less than minutes with him and his sword fighting skills.”

Victor stands up and sees the boy smiling shyly. He couldn’t be older than Yurio. It’s hard to imagine him facing a crew of ruthless pirates.

“And my friend Leo here helped us to rail the rest of the crew together,” Chris says and Leo waves at them. Victor smiles at both of them, grateful that there were good people willing to help his crew to rescue them.

“I helped too!” Yurio says, coming up behind them and pushing Victor with his elbow to make space for him. “I got the best swords from Bellstump collection for you all.”

Victor remembers he hadn’t seen him being captured and Yuuri confirmed that he wasn’t among the prisoners either. Victor always knew Yurio had what it took to be a sailor.

“Beka helped too. He knew how to open Bellstump’s quarters.”

‘Beka’ hold up his thumb as a way of greeting. Victor and Yuuri look at each other in surprise. Yuri really has a friend. 

“I guess we missed a lot, didn’t we?” Victor says to Yuuri, but Chris overhears it.

He puts an arm around Victor. “Oh _mon ami_ , you missed so many things but I’m assuming so did we, right?” He says, giving Victor and Yuuri’s joined hands a pointed look. Victor just tightens his grasp a bit more and Yuuri squeezes his hand in return. They smile at each other.

“What did we miss, Chris?” Victor asks, turning back to his friend.

“Well, for starters, it’s First Mate Giacometti now,” Chris says with a shit-eating grin, “and I introduce you to Captain Chulanont,” he presents Phichit with an exaggerate reverie and Phichit stands tall, pretending to tip an imaginary hat.

Victor blinks, confused. “What do you mean?” He asks, not because he was demoted, if he even has a range in this ship at all, but because he doesn’t like the implications…

“He’s saying we’re pirates now. God, you’re so slow,” Yurio says, rolling his eyes.

Victor’s world comes to a stop. They’re _what_ now? He swallows, trying to keep his anger in check. There must’ve been a good reason for them to turn into a band of thieves. “Pirates?” He asks with disbelief in his voice.

“It’s not as bad as it sounds,” Mila says, making her way through the rest of the crew until she reaches Victor, “we’re good pirates! Like Robin Hood!” She says, enthusiastically.

“But why would you do that?” Victor asks, looking at his friends with some conflict. Yuuri passes his thumb over Victor’s knuckles, providing a grounding presence for him.

Phichit claps his hands, making everyone startle with the sound. “Everyone get back to work! This ship isn’t going to sail itself,” he says, some the crew groaned and dragged their feet back to work, clearly wanting to overhead the drama unfolding. In the end, only Mila, Chris, Yurio, and Phichit stayed in the quarterdeck.

“I told you he wasn’t going to like it,” Yurio says, crossing his arms in front of his chest.

Victor sighs and looks at Chris looking for some answer. He’s known him for his whole life, he’s not a thieve and he believes in doing what’s right.

_Were you really doing the right thing though?_ His mind whispers, and he has to pause to consider it.

“I’m sorry but I don’t understand this change of heart either,” Yuuri says to the group, “what brought it over?”

Chris is the one who answers, “Sara’s story, and little things that I’ve seen over the years. Victor, you know how it is, you know how corrupted the Governor is. I don’t want to keep working for him, and I would very much like to give the money to someone who truly needs it.”

Victor opens his mouth but closes it. He knows Chris is right. He’s a respectable member of Russian society, and his parents are too. Yet, his parents have loudly opposed to serfdom, gaining the dislike of the Governor and the rest of the society. Victor made it through the Navy ranks, gaining the trust of the officers in high ranks, even the Governor, and that way, he protected his family.

He wonders if that was the right thing to do.

God, isn’t he a hypocrite? Preaching about stealing and pirates when he has done things that aren’t morally sound for his own convenience.

He nods, slipping his hand away from Yuuri. “Okay, I can see your point,” he says, at last, keeping his gaze down. “I’m not entirely sure if I support this, but I don’t plan to stop you either.”

“That’s—reasonable,” Mila says, doubtful. “We were going to ask you if you wanted to join—”

“That talk can wait!” Phichit interrupts side-eying Mila. “Aren’t you tired?”

Yuuri gives him a sidelong glance and Victor tries to smooth his features to something more pleasant.

“Yes, I think—where can we sleep?” He hears Yuuri ask while he turns around towards the sea. This is where he felt most at home, where he could escape from Russian society and be himself because the sea never judged him. Sometimes it felt like it was all he had.

He feels Yuuri’s arm brush against him.

Well, up until now. 

* * * * *

“You’re not too mad, are you?” Chris asks one day, as Victor checks the ropes on the mast. Good thing the ship is new and none of these pirates damaged it too badly.

“About you becoming a pirate,” Victor asks, writing down the state of the ropes in his log, which it’s no longer the Captain’s log, he supposes.

“No, about demoting you,” Chris asks, peering at him with some distrust. He doesn’t blame him, Victor knows he’s great at lying and Chris has seen him bullshit his way out of trouble more than anyone has in this ship.

Which is why he tries not to lie, “I’m not thrilled about it, but Phichit deserves it. He conducted the mutiny and gained the trust of the crew. The whole Robin Hood thing is good too.”

“But?” Chris asks, arching his eyebrows in his direction.

Victor smiles. “There’s no ‘but’.”

Chris cocks his head and gives him a look. “Well, something is clearly bothering you. Is it the pirate thing in general? You don’t have to be one if you don’t want to you. You’re not our prisoner or anything.”

“No, I don’t really have a leg to stand on about that,” Victor says, shaking his head, and putting his log over one of the many boxes in the deck. “I don’t have a problem with it either. The way you’re doing it, you didn’t harm anyone when you invaded that last ship…” Victor says with a small smile. They have handled themselves well enough and left the ship go after they had collected all the jewelry it was transporting.

“And more importantly, you’re all safe here,” Victor says, thinking how no one in Russian society would ever make them conform to be anything they weren’t. He thinks of Mila and Sara holding hands in the deck, he thinks of all the times he’s kissed Yuuri in front of everybody, in how Yurio is learning how to be a sailor without all the restrictions he’d have had otherwise, all for the lack of rank.

He thinks the diverse crew and knows that they’ll be okay.

He thinks of Yuuri arriving in Japan soon.

“Victor?” Chris asks with worry written all over his face.

“Chris… I have to go back to Russia,” he says, unable to hide his sad smile.

* * * * *

“You can’t go back to Russia! Not without Sara,” Mila says, bursting into the sleeping quarters. Makka startles and jumps into Yuuri’s lap. Victor’s both charmed and a bit jealous that Makka prefers Yuuri but he can’t blame her at all. “She says she’s okay with accompanying you. She can defend herself, right love?”

“Yes! There’s nothing he can do to me, anyway. I can always curse him. That’ll give him a lesson.” Sara says with enthusiasm. As if cursing bad people was something she liked.

Victor smiles, oddly touched by the gesture. “You don’t need to do that. I’ll face the Governor on my own.”

“He’ll be angry! Or worse, he’ll blame you if her daughter’s still sick!”

Victor puts on a brave face and shrugs one of his shoulders. “I’ll be fine, Mila. I’ll lie and say I lost most of my crew to pirates. No one will bat an eye,” he lies, knowing well that the Governor will not let this one pass.

“Vitya! Let us help,” Mila says, crossing her arms in a stubborn stance, but Victor has known Mila since forever. He knows when she’s trying to seem intimidating instead of upset, which it’s how she must be feeling.

“Mila, I’ll be okay. Have you ever seen me not getting my way?” Victor says with a mischievous grin.

Mila relaxes a little. “You do have a tendency to… get away with things,” she concedes. “ _Fine,_ I guess. If that’s what you want, but you could always stay here with us.”

Victor feels his stomach sink but brushes it off with a smile. “I still have things to do in St. Petersburg. Don’t worry about me, Mila. Too bad I’ll miss your wedding, though,” He says with a bigger grin. 

Mila blushes. “Oh my _god_ , you’re worse than my mother.”

“What’s a wedding?” Sara asks with a furrowed brow. “Oh wait! Someone asked me one time that they wanted to have a wedding with the love of their life.”

Sara’s eyes lit up. “Mila, we can do that?” She asks, clinging to Mila’s side.

Mila blushes even more, but a tiny smile appears in her lips. “We could. Someday.”

“Soon?” Sara asks, and Mila glares at Victor before turning to see Sara with so much love in her eyes that Victor sort of feels like crying. He saw her struggling back in Russia with the idea of marrying for convenience. Now she gets to choose, and it seems like she found her choice in a powerful sea witch that could possibly be immortal.

“We’ll talk about it, okay?” Mila says with a kiss to her forehead. Sara makes a content noise.

Mila and Sara leave with Sara asking more about weddings. There’s a small comfortable silence and Victor watches Yuuri pet Makka on the floor.

“You won’t be okay,” Yuuri says and it’s not a question, but a statement. “Vitya, why are you going? Honestly?”

Victor keeps his gaze on Yuuri, as he tries to think the best way to phrase his feelings about the matter. “If I don’t return, my parents will pay for it. I’d rather have the Governor punish me than my parents getting the consequences of my actions.”

Yuuri swallows, clearly fighting with the knot on his throat. His eyes are shiny with tears and Victor feels his eyes sting with his own. “What’s going to happen to you?”

Victor breathes deeply, but finds himself unable to describe what will happen. “You don’t have to know.”

“I need to know,” Yuuri argues and worries his lower lip between his teeth.

Victor swallows before speaking. “At the very best, I get imprisoned. At worst… well, he finds a way to get the capital punishment.”

It’d be very easy to do it so, but he doesn’t mention that.

“Come here,” he asks, patting the space next to him since moving himself would probably wake up Makka.

Victor moves and Yuuri puts his head over his shoulder. They stay like that for a while. It feels like they’re living in borrowed time, and Victor would wish for nothing more than the freedom that living in this ship has given him.

He can’t leave his parents to their luck. Yuuri can’t either, needing to see his family and letting them know, at last, that he’s okay. Maybe he’ll even avoid the Japanese authorities and he’ll get to live a happy life with his family. He’ll find love again too. He’ll be happy. There’s nothing more than Victor wants for him.

“I’ve been thinking—well, I found these and I thought, um,” Yuuri pulls something from his breeches, and Victor can’t see what it is because his hand is in a fist. “I didn’t know if I should do this, but I wanted to have something to—maybe remember you isn’t the right word, because I always will—” Yuuri rambles, but his face is vulnerable.

Victor feels his heart in his throat, both wondering where Yuuri is going with his speech and being honored that Yuuri knows he’ll never forget him.

“Um, but—think of it as something that means that I’ll be with you always,” Yuuri says, blushing in an attractive shade of pink. Victor wants to kiss him but the golden rings on Yuuri’s open palm have left him unable to move or utter words.

“I know you will,” Victor says and puts his hand out so Yuuri can put one of the rings on his finger. The mere gesture of Yuuri pushing the ring and having it fit perfectly is enough to have Victor blurting out an “I want to marry you.”

“What?” Yuuri says, surprised. As if he hadn’t found them both rings and say things like he’ll never forget him.

“I love you, I want to marry you,” Victor says simply, taking the other ring on Yuuri’s palms. He’s meet with no resistance when he tries to put it on Yuuri’s finger. He puts a hand under Yuuri’s jaw and kisses him, taking his time.

He’s not sure what’s gotten into him, but he’s never been surer of anything in his life than the fact that he wants to marry Yuuri Katsuki. When they part, they’re both a little breathless and Yuuri puts a hand over Victor’s wrist. A slow smile spreads on his face and there’s a glint on his eyes, one that Victor would call love.

“Of course. Of course, I will.”

* * * * *

 “Congrats on your marriage!” Phichit says, clapping with excitement.

Both Victor and Yuuri look at each other with amused smiles.

“Um, Phichit, you have to marry us first,” Yuuri says, laughing.

“Oh _right_! Dearly crew of the History Marker, we are gathered here today to celebrate the union between Victor and Yuuri, our beloved friends,” Phichit says, pretending to wipe a tear from his eyes, “who took years to realize they were made for each other.”

“Phichit!” Yuuri complains.

“Fine, fine. Yuuri Katsuki do you take Victor Nikiforov to be your husband in sickness and in health?”

“I do,” Yuuri says with a bright smile directed solely at Victor.

“Victor Nikiforov, do you take Yuuri Katsuki to be your husband in sickness and in health?”

“I do,” Victor says with a smile just as big. He feels his chest expand with happiness, knowing that at last, he had found someone who loves him just for who he is. Someone who loves him, flaws and all, and not his status or how much money does he have.

“You better,” Phichit whispers under his breath and gives Victor and innocent smile. “Now, as a captain of this ship, I now pronounce you husband and husband.” He hears everyone else clapping and cheering. “You may kiss now.”

Victor meets Yuuri in the middle in a searing kiss. He hears some hoots in the background, probably courtesy of Chris. He doesn’t care, all he knows is Yuuri’s lips on his and the feel of his body against him.

When they part, Yuuri’s gaze is tender on him. Victor could melt under these brown-eyes that belong to the man who he has come to love with all his being. He never wants to let him go. He wishes he could stay close to him forever, as they had just promised.

_Two weeks_ , his mind whispers and Victor envelops Yuuri in a hug, imagining that he’ll never have to let go.

* * * * *

Victor separates from Yuuri, wiping the tears falling from his eyes. Yuuri does the same to him, but they just keep falling.

“Promise me you’ll be happy,” Victor says with his breath hitching.

“How can you ask me that?” Yuuri says, mildly miffed but out of frustration. “How can I be happy when I don’t know what happened to you?”

“I’ll be okay,” he says and they both know it’s a lie, “even if I’m not, please know that I did it the right thing for once and I never stopped thinking about you.”

That only brings more tears to their eyes and Yuuri hugs him again, burying his head in his neck. He already knew that saying goodbye to Yuuri would be hard, but he could have never imagined how hard. This is already tearing him to pieces.

He opens his eyes when he realizes that he’s closed them and sees his friends with the same torn expressions on his face. Even Yurio looks sad.

“Victor, it’s time to go,” Georgi says from the boats that have the rest of the crew who doesn’t want to be pirates. Victor’s breath hitches and his arms refuse to let go of Yuuri. Eventually, he does, feeling very much like he’s parting with a limb (or more adequately, a part of his heart.)

The scene plays out very much like the last time Victor boarded a boat. He never takes his eyes from Yuuri and neither does Yuuri from his. This time though, they don’t whisper anything because they already know.

_I love you. I love you._

_I’m sorry._

He hates this. He wants to stay. 

He doesn’t.

* * * * *

His reunion with the Governor goes as planned. Meaning, horribly bad.

“So, what you’re telling me is that your ship was raided by pirates and you were unable to bring the witch to me?”

“Yes, Your Illustrious Highness. I lost my ship and most of my crew.”

Governor Dmitry Ivanovich Mikhailov stands up with a blank look on his face. His waistcoat is single-breasted and has golden buttons that adorned it from the collar to the end, just below the waist. He has every medal known in the military, either embroidered or hanging off his clothes.

Victor thinks how he deserved none of them.

He stands in front of Victor and gives him a condescending smile. “It’s a nice ring what you have there.”

Victor’s first instinct is to cover it, wanting to protect it from Mikhailov’s predatory look. It’s all he has physically left from Yuuri, the only thing that tethers to him.

“In a ship full of men, no less,” he scoffs, giving Victor and all-too-knowing smile. “Or I’ve heard that Princess Babicheva ran away from home the same day your ship sailed and _now_ , you come back with a golden ring on your finger.”

Victor bites the inside of his cheek to keep himself from smiling. He even looks down to heighten the act. He was _almost_ right for a second.

To be honest, it always amuses him that people think he fancies girls and, even more so, when they think he thinks of that way about Mila.

“Here’s what I think,” Mikhailov says, crossing his arms, “I think you married Princess Babicheva and don’t intend to keep your part of the deal. I think you ask the sea witch for a favor,” the Governor scoffs. “That’s why you’re one of the few who survived. I guess we’re not so different after all.”

Victor feels revulsion to his very core, but he keeps a straight face. “No, Your Illustrious Highness. I stand by my story.”

“Of course, you are,” Mikhailov says with a bored expression. “You’re under arrest anyway and will be imprisoned for political crimes and high treason. I’m not stupid, Nikiforov. I’m not giving you the chance to keep whatever deal you made with that witch,” he says, uncomfortably close. Victor doesn’t even flinch. Mikhailov scoffs, looking at him as if he were dirt. “Gentlemen, take him to his cell.”

Victor doesn’t let them drag him, choosing to walk with them instead.

He doesn’t fight.

He knows that as long as the Governor thinks he has him, he won’t go after his family.

“Oh, and _Victor_ ,” he says, mocking him, “my daughter is in good health after all. It must have been just a cold.”

* * * * *

It’s not really a surprise to know that he was deceived. Yuuri did warn him about the Governor’s lies and Sara told him about the crew he abandoned.

Imprisoned for high treason. He knows what that means for him, and what’s worse, what it’ll do to his family name. At least, they’ll be safe but it’ll affect their future in Russian society.  

He can’t bring himself to regret it.

As much as he wants to say he would take it all back, he can’t.

He kisses his ring, imagining that Yuuri is doing the same miles away.

His husband.

He smiles in spite of the fear in his heart and the loneliness in his cell. No matter what happens, Victor will always have the comfort that he knows life and love now. He was just going through the motions, accepting that he’d have to conform to a loveless marriage and to climb the ranks because that was the only thing that mattered. Now he knows better.

He hears something clank upstairs. Soon enough, there’s someone running down the stairs. Victor steels himself for the guards that must be coming down. If they want to torture him, he won’t make it so easy for them.

“Vitya?”

His heart skips a beat. “Yuuri!”

Yuuri runs down the rest of the stairs. Victor puts his hands around the bars as Yuuri runs to him.

“Vitya, you’re okay. You’re okay,” he says, almost crying with relief. He pulls out a bunch of keys and starts to try them on the cell’s lock.

“You came. Why are you here?” Victor asks, conflicted. The part that wants Yuuri by his side is winning, but he doesn’t want him to get caught up in the crossfire.

“Isn’t it obvious?” Yuuri says as the lock makes a clicking sound. “Saving you again obvious—”  

Victor is out of the cell before he can finish that sentence and kisses Yuuri’s words away.

“You shouldn’t have,” Victor says, breathless.

“We don’t have much time,” Yuuri takes him by the hand and they start to run. “What do you mean I shouldn’t have? My husband is heading for the guillotine. I absolutely had to.”

The pass by the guard that Yuuri must have knocked out.

“Your _husband_ had a plan,” Victor says, trying to sound serious but his smile betrays him.

“My _husband_ plan was to let himself be imprisoned. That’s the worst plan there is,” Yuuri reaches a door and pauses before opening it.

“You’re going to need this,” Yuuri says, handing him a sword. He proceeds to push his hair back and it _stays_ there. Victor doesn’t know how anyone could believe that he was anything but _gay_.

Yuuri seems to notice and smirks in his direction. “Look at me like that after we both survive, please,” he says and pushes the door.

All hell is breaking loose in the prison’s garden.

He sees Guang-Hong handling two guards at once. Yurio and Otabek are pushing barrels from the second floor to the guards. Chris is having a fistfight with another one, which… _wow_. Yuuri runs into the mayhem, catching a guard that was about to strike Phichit by surprise.

Victor would drool over Yuuri’s form all night if it weren’t for the guard that tries to stab him. He dodges his sword by mere inches.

“Nikolai?” He says surprised.

“Victor!” The man says. “I thought you were one of the intruders.”

Victor laughs. “Don’t worry about it,” he says with a dismissive gesture, “but I hope you know that I’m terribly sorry.”

“For what?”

Victor hits Nikolai on the head with one of the flower vases, effectively knocking him out. “This,” he finishes, cringing a little and making sure that Nikolai wasn’t bleeding.  

He goes to fight the rest of the guards.

* * * * *

They miraculously make it alive with minimal damage that Seung-Gil will have to fix.

“Where’s your parents’ house?” Yuuri asks.

Victor takes his hand and guides him the dark streets of St. Petersburg. “This way. Why?”

“Georgi went to warn them and we’re taking them with us.”

Victor doesn’t stop but if he could, he’d kiss Yuuri. “Have I told you how much I love you?”

“Not recently. Maybe you should.”

God, and Yuuri insists he’s nothing like his drunk self.

“Can you save the flirting for when we’re not about to fucking die?” Yurio says, running behind them.

Victor laughs.

* * * * *

When they arrived at his parents’ house, he finds them carrying bags and boxes with their belongings into a carriage.

“Mama? Papa?” He calls. His parents stop their activities to run towards him.

“Vitya!” His mom says, enveloping him in a comforting hug. “You’re safe.”

“I’m glad you are too,” he says, hugging his mom and looking at his dad who looks equally glad to see him in one piece. “What are you doing? Aren’t you coming with us?”

“Well son, your mother is not really made to be in the sea,” his dad says, putting a hand over his wife back and rubbing comforting circles. She’s wearing a green dress with silver flower embroidery that goes with her hair.  

“I get terribly seasick. Besides… we’re not judging your choices, but we’re too old to be pirates,” his mom says with a grimace.

Victor twists his lips. “Where are you going then?”

“Prejom-Mayor Popovich made arrangements for us in, uh, Siberia,” his father says and Victor looks at Georgi, who’s standing near the carriage with some awkwardness.

“I have family there. I’m sure they’ll be more than welcomed,” Georgi explains with a small smile.

Victor gives Georgi a thankful smile and Georgi nods in acknowledgment.

“That means I won’t see you anymore,” Victor says with a sad smile.

His mom hugs him. “I’m afraid so, Vitenka. Although, one must never lose hope in this life.”

Victor feels tears fall down his eyes.

“We’ll be okay, son. We wanted to leave anyway,” his dad says, squeezing his shoulder. “We’re not so welcome here anymore.”

“And you’ll be okay too, I see,” his mom says, lifting the hand with his ring. It glints under the light, letting them know that yes, he’ll be more than okay.

Victor takes a deep breath, steeling himself to their reaction. “Mama, papa, there’s someone I want you to see before we leave.”

He takes a step back to grasp for Yuuri’s hand who’s hiding in the shadows with the rest of his group.

“Yuuri!” His mom says, not doubting to hug the boy that she took care of so many years ago. “You’re okay too. I’m glad we could see you one last time too.”

“Thank you, I’m glad I could see you too. Just know that I’ll be forever grateful for what you did for me,” Yuuri says with a smile to both of his parents.

“He’s the one saved me,” Victor tells them and he knows the look in his eyes speaks for itself because he cannot find it in himself to try to hide it.

“Is that true? You saved our boy?” His dad asks, extending his hand towards Yuuri. Yuuri shakes his hand, glancing at Victor with some apprehension. “We could never repay you for what you’ve done for us.”

He sees his dad taking notice of the matching wedding band on Yuuri’s hand. He watches carefully for any change in his parents’ expression. There’s confusion for a moment, but their faces change to knowing smiles and her mom’s expression turns prideful.  

His mom takes Yuuri’s hand into hers. “You take care of each other,” she says, looking at both of them with pointed gazes and some tears in her eyes. “Do that and everything else will sort itself out.”

Victor smiles, feeling his chest seize and expand at the same time.

Both of his parents hug them before they leave. Victor and Yuuri stay there until the carriage has disappeared from view.

Victor wipes his face with the hand that Yuuri isn’t holding.

“How are you feeling?” Yuuri asks, carefully.

“Sad,” he says, “happy,” he squeezes Yuuri’s hand, “glad to know they’ll be okay.”

He looks at Yuuri and gives him a soft smile. Yuuri kisses his knuckles.

“Sorry to interrupt, but we have to leave _now_ ,” Chris says and, in the distance, he can hear horses coming their way.

* * * * *

Yuuri falls to the water as Victor tries to fight Mikhailov off their boat.

“Yuuri!” He says, losing his concentration enough for Mikhailov to punch him under the jaw.

“You’re not getting away and making me look like a fool!” He says, knocking the air out of Victor again.

Yuuri still hasn’t come off for water and Victor tries not to panic. The boat rocks with the force of Victor dodging another punch from Mikhailov.

He hears water splash somewhere on his right and Yuuri gasping for air. “I’m okay!” Yuuri says between gasps.

“Aw, you were worried about your little friend,” Mikhailov says, taunting him to punch him so he can use that as an advantage. Victor sees him get too close to the end of the boat and smiles.

“He’s my husband,” he says, watching with satisfaction how Mikhailov’s face goes slack with surprise and Victor uses that as _his_ advantage to push him out of the boat by grabbing him by the lapels.

“Now Sara!” He yells before they fall into the water.

The cold water is a shock to his senses but he manages to get away from Mikhailov as a light of some sort appears in the water. He hears a song underwater that sends a chill through his spine. Victor gets away as fast as he cans, swimming towards the boat again.

A hand pulls him up on the boat, and Yuuri is hugging him before he’s fully seated again.

Light explodes beneath them, there’s a long moment of silence before the boat starts moving forward with the help of the waves. Victor huffs a laugh, realizing that this is Sara’s doing. _Good_ , he was getting kind of tired of always being in imminent danger so this is a nice change.

“What did Sara do?” Yuuri asks, his teeth chattering a little thanks to the chill from the ocean.

“Make him pay his debt,” Victor says. He doesn’t know how, but he hopes that he was turned into a _vodianoy._

Yuuri settles more against Victor, “well, it’s what he deserves.”  

Yuuri leaves a kiss on Victor’s neck and Victor holds him tighter, forgetting all about the Governor.

* * * * *

“Don’t do anything too extenuating in the next two hours or the stitches won’t hold,” Seung-Gil says to Victor but gives Yuuri a pointed look. “Welcome back, Captain.”

“I’m not the captain anymore,” Victor sing-songs.

“Thank god,” Yurio says when he passes near them.

“Aw, Yurio, you know you love me at least a little,” Victor says because he obviously hasn’t tempted fate enough in one day.

“Shut up, old man! I’d _love_ to drop your ass in the next port!” Yurio says as he sits on the stool in front of Seung-Gil for his own patch up.

Victor laughs and turns around to find Yuuri. He’s watching at him with a soft look on his face that is accentuated by the soft morning light.

Victor has no choice but to follow.

“Hey,” he says softly.

“Hey,” Yuuri replies in the same tone.

They smile at each other.

“So, I was thinking…” Yuuri starts, taking a step forward, “... I still want to go to Japan but I don’t intend to stay anymore.”

Victor’s heart could sing with happiness, but “you don’t have to do that for me, Yuuri,” he says.

Yuuri pretends to adjust Victor’s lapels before pulling him closer. “Who says I am?”

Victor feels a bit lightheaded. Seems like he’ll have to get used to this Yuuri too. _Oh_ , he’ll try his best, of course.

“Not that I doubt you, my love, but why the change of heart?”

Yuuri shrugs but he can see traces of the shy Yuuri too. He’s going to love discovering more about his husband every day, isn’t he?

“ _Almost_ losing you made me realize I wanted you to stay. I was just too worried about holding you back,” he says, swallowing, “I’ll always want to see my family, but I’ve changed too much to stay there anymore.”

Victor nods, understanding what Yuuri is saying since he changed too.

“Besides, I’m quartermaster Katsuki now.”

“Are you?” Victor says and puts a finger over his lips. “You get your own sleeping quarters now, don’t you?”

“Why do you think Phichit did it?”

“Because you’re an amazing sailor!” Victor argues, although, he knows it’s for their sleeping arrangements too.

Their rings glint with the sun and Yuuri slips his hand into his.

“Next time some ship attack us, we’re just going to blind them with these damn rings,” Yurio says annoyed.

They both smile and, for the first time, they know they’ll be alright. Their love doesn’t have a deadline anymore.

They get to be Yuuri and Victor for the rest of their days.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Well, that is the end pals. This was a trip and a half, but I hope you enjoy it! 
> 
> And Abarero, I hope you liked your gift and thank you so much for sharing your stories (I began to read the [Elusive Vermillion Rose](https://archiveofourown.org/works/16158239/chapters/37754681)) you guys should check it out!). I hope you're having a great start of the year! ❤︎ 
> 
> Thank you all for reading!


End file.
